Wind

In 2017, 15% of the UK’s entire electricity was generated from wind power, enough to power 12.7 million homes across the country. This makes wind our primary source of renewable energy in Britain at the present time. In fact, the UK now generates twice as much energy from wind power as we do from coal. Turning the wind’s energy into electricity requires the use of wind turbines placed in windy areas of open land or in shallow water surrounding the coast of the UK. Wind turbines are huge structures, typically around 150 metres tall, topped with two or three rotating blades. The wind’s power and kinetic energy cause the blades to spin which powers a generator that converts the movement (kinetic energy) into electricity. Wind turbine blades typically span 20 to 80 metres and turn 13 to 20 times per minute depending on the strength of the wind, the size and type of turbine.  Once installed, the blades quietly go about their business producing electricity with no pollution from carbon emissions. Currently, there are 7,054 onshore wind turbines in operation across the UK plus a further 1,832 located offshore. This amounts to a total maximum capacity of over 19,800 MW of electricity and equated to 15% of Britain’s total electricity generation in 2017. This swelled further in the final three months of 2017 when a total of 18.5% of our total electricity was generated by wind power. Once the renewable infrastructure is built, the fuel is free forever. Unlike carbon-based fuels, the wind and the sun and the Earth itself provide fuel that is free, in amounts that are effectively limitless. Wind farms may need plenty of space in between each turbine to prevent turbulence, but the land in between can often be utilised for agricultural purposes. This means landowners and agricultural farmers can install their own wind turbines with minimal disturbance to the land or rent the land to wind farm companies.