- The UK is expanding its wind energy capacity, particularly offshore, with the approval of the Rampion 2 project.
- The Rampion 2 expansion will add 1.2 GW of capacity, enough to power around 1 million UK homes.
- The UK government aims to quadruple its offshore wind capacity by 2030 as part of its net-zero carbon goals.
The U.K. is already a world leader in wind energy, having rapidly expanded both its onshore and offshore wind capacity over the last decade. Now, under the new Labour government, the U.K. hopes to expand its wind power sector even further through the massive expansion of the Rampion offshore wind farm. This is expected to help the government progress towards achieving its net-zero carbon ambitions.
In 2023, 46.4 percent of the UK’s electricity was generated using renewable energy sources, of which wind energy contributed 61 percent. Around 39.7 percent of the U.K.’s wind energy is generated onshore and the remaining 60.3 offshore. The U.K. constructed its first commercial onshore wind farm in 1991, generating 1 GW of wind capacity. In 2024, the U.K.’s wind energy capacity increased to 30GW, double that of 2017. The U.K. has 11,906 turbines, with 9,141 onshore and 2,765 offshore, consisting of 10 floating and 2,755 fixed turbines.