Offshore wind facts and figures
1991 First offshore windfarm built in Vindeby, Denmark with a hub height of 35 metres 2001 First UK offshore windfarm built at Blyth: 62m high 2011 Hub heights grow to 83m 2017 Hub heights now 105m and 18 times more power than in 1991
In the UK, offshore windfarms take up 0.1 per cent of our sea area, but produce 5.4 per cent of the nation’s electricity requirements, powering more than 4 million UK homes
A 1GW offshore windfarm provides electricity for more than 800,000 homes a year. The UK’s potential is estimated at 120GW using turbines in depths under 50m, sufficient to supply all of the country’s electricity
There are 300,000 onshore and offshore wind turbines globally
The UK is the world leader in offshore wind – we’ve installed more capacity than any other country, and we’re the number one destination for attracting investment in this technology. The UK is the largest single offshore wind market globally
A record £12.7 billion was invested in UK offshore wind projects in 2016, double the £6.1 billion figure recorded in 2015. More than £18bn will be invested in the next five years, making offshore wind the 6th largest UK infrastructure programme
Offshore wind is already costcompetitive with new nuclear, and is set to be competitive with new gas by the middle of the next decade. Public support for offshore wind reached a record high of 80 per cent in the Government’s latest Public Attitudes Tracking Survey (by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in May 2017)