Major milestone: 30 GW of wind covers 28% of UK energy needs

As of 29th August 2024, the UK has hit 30 GW of total onshore and offshore wind development. It’s a huge achievement, but there’s still more to do in the fight against climate change.

Overcoming enormous challenges and external pressures, the UK wind power sector has now delivered over 30 GW of energy. That’s enough for 26 million UK homes or 1.4 million electric vehicles.

Wind is now bigger than gas, as well as the UK’s largest source of renewable energy. Last year, 60% of all UK renewable energy was generated from onshore and offshore wind. Incredibly, wind alone now provides 28.2% of all the energy needed to power the nation. With 17% coming from offshore and 11.2% from onshore.

It’s a triumph of technology. Significant advances in turbine power and efficiency have drastically accelerated the pace of positive change:

• 8,347 turbines were needed to deliver the first 15.1GW, from 2017 and earlier
• Only 3,495 turbines were needed to deliver the second 15.1GW, from 2017-2024

Next steps: Keeping up momentum is critical

Wind is producing more power than ever, more efficiently than ever. But we are still not producing enough renewable energy to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change.

Stuart Davidson, Head of Wind Development at BayWa r.e. UK, commented,

"This is a massively important milestone in terms of how much the industry has achieved, despite much adversity. It’s positive progression for the country in many ways; we’re contributing significantly to net zero targets and, improving our energy security. But it is only a stepping stone.

The Scottish Government has a target of 20 GW onshore wind installed by 2030. That’s just in Scotland, then factor in the potential across the rest of the UK. Within the UK, we should be able to go well above 30 GW. However, several challenges remain, such as the immediate need for more grid infrastructure, but these challenges are beatable, and the movements of the UK Government to enable onshore wind in England already are reassuring that such issues can and will be overcome. BayWa r.e. UK is looking forward to the future, where we’ll be pulling our weight to champion the power of wind.”

The coming years hold big rewards if we can maintain the will to invest in renewables. 30 GW of onshore wind by 2030 would create 27,000 jobs and boost the UK economy by £45 billion. Could you help drive this essential change?

We’re always eager to speak with investors, developers, and landowners who want to get involved with the UK’s energy transition.