New research by trade body RenewableUK shows that the total capacity of onshore wind could grow to 30 GW by 2030, if everything in the current pipeline is built. This is more than double the UK’s current operational capacity of 13.6 GW.
Its latest ‘Onshore Wind Project Intelligence’ report reveals that new onshore wind capacity is set to increase over the course of this decade, as technology costs fall and the resumption from next year of auctions for power generation contracts.
The total project pipeline includes UK onshore wind projects which are operational, under construction, consented, submitted into the planning system or being developed for submission into planning.
The Committee on Climate Change has recommended that the UK should install 35 GW of onshore wind by 2035 at a rate of at least 1GW a year. RenewableUK’s ‘Optimum Scenario’ shows that this is achievable if projects are consented in a timely manner and with the right planning framework in place. Deployment at that level would require £46 bn in new investment.
The Project Intelligence report also shows that, as part of this 30GW, an additional 1.2 GW of capacity could be contributed from repowering projects by 2030. So far repowering only accounts for 231 MW of current UK onshore wind capacity.
