The UK’s leading renewable energy company Ecotricity, has announced wind power output increased 18% on 2010. Throughout the UK, Ecotricity have 51 wind turbines in 16 wind farms. They saw output rise from 104.6 GWh to 123.8 GWh.
Together, the energy produced can power 37,500 homes in Britain. The UK’s natural wind supply provides the perfect opportunity for renewable energy, with 40% of Europe’s wind blowing over the UK.
And Ecotricity founder, Dale Vince, says the country should be doing more to capture this natural, environmentally friendly energy source. He said: “There were whole months during 2011 when green energy contributed nearly 10% (and wind power 5%) of the Britain’s total electricity needs.”
“You could say we are the Saudi Arabia of wind energy and this resource gives Britain the potential to be energy independent again.”
Ecotricity are nowhere near completing their renewable energy plans and this year alone they have proposals for another 19 wind turbines to be built. This would increase wind capacity by 50%. There are also plans afoot to power 100,000 homes with renewable energy, as they await planning permission for a further 78 turbines.
In fact, over the next five years Ecotricity are expecting to reach a capacity of 200MW. These projects would be funded through its customers’ energy bills and independent schemes.
Wind energy is very popular in the UK – particularly Scotland – because of the country’s large natural supply. It’s part of the renewable energy sector, which also includes solar power, hydroelectricity and geothermal energy.
Wind turbines produce electricity by converting the captured wind into useable energy. This means they’re eligible for the Feed-in tariff scheme, which pays for every unit of electricity generated by renewable sources. This is all in an effort to reduce the amount of fossil fuels used for energy in the UK and generate 15% of power by renewables by 2020.