24 April 2010

UK Hits 1GW Milestone for Offshore Wind Farms

This week two new offshore wind farms opened in the UK, creating a milestone for renewable energy in the country.  The new farms mean that for the first time the United Kingdom has now installed a whole gigawatt's worth of them.  In terms of homes that means that over seven hundred thousand homes can now be powered purely by the wind.  There may be many million to go but this is most certainly a step in the right direction.

There are now eleven offshore wind farms in the UK, with the one pictured in the marvellous photograph above off the coast of Prestatyn in North Wales.  That is over three hundred turbines with another 4GW's worth in developmental stages.  A little maths means that three and a half million homes should be powered by offshore wind farms in the near future.

Now, there is just the little matter of the new nuclear power stations that are being planned to sort out...

Image Credit Flickr User Richard0