UK wind energy database

The number of operational wind energy projects.

The total installed capacity of all onshore wind farms.

Calculated by multiplying the installed capacity in MW by the number of hours in a year (8760) and then multiplying this by DESNZ's long-term average load factor for (onshore + offshore) wind (30.82%) expressed as a fraction of 1 (e.g. 0.3082).

Source for capacity factors is Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics (DUKES) published annually by DESNZ (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero).

RenewableUK uses DESNZ’s “all non-renewable fuels” emissions statistic of 437 tonnes of carbon dioxide per GWh of electricity supplied in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (July 2024) Table 5.14 ("Estimated carbon dioxide emissions from electricity supplied”).

Carbon reduction is calculated by multiplying the total amount of electricity generated by wind per year by the number of tonnes of carbon which fossil fuels would have produced to generate the same amount of electricity.

E.G. UKWED stated (August 2024) “Energy produced (MWh/year): 81,801,845MWh”  - therefore 81,801.845GWh x 437 tonnes = 35,747,406 tonnes of carbon emissions saved.

The number of operational wind turbines.

The total installed capacity of all offshore wind farms.

Calculated using the most recent statistics from DESNZ showing that annual GB average domestic household consumption is 3,239kWh (as of January 2024, updated annually).

RenewableUK calculates homes powered as: number of megawatts installed, multiplied by DESNZ's "all wind" (onshore + offshore) load factor expressed as a fraction of 1, multiplied by number of hours in a year, divided by average annual domestic electricity consumption expressed in MWh.

As an example, using statistics available in January 2024: 30,298.865 MW installed capacity x 0.3082 “all wind” load factor x 8,760 hours / 3.239MWh annual consumption = 25,255,279 homes powered equivalent.

The load factor is the actual output of a turbine benchmarked against its theoretical minimum output in a year.

The load factor is calculated by RenewableUK as a rolling average of the past five years using data (on an Unchanged Configuration Basis) from the Digest of UK Energy Statistics published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, using stats 2019-2023 (released in July 2024):

• onshore wind: 26.34%
• offshore wind: 40.58%
• DESNZ "all wind" (onshore + offshore): 30.82%
  
  

It’s worth noting that load factors have been increasing over time due to technological innovation. DESNZ states in its CfD (Standard Terms) Regulations document that the load factor for new build projects (for delivery years 2026-2029) is 62.3% for offshore wind, 44.8% for onshore wind (>5MW) and 44.8% for remote island wind – see Table J: Assumed Load Factor pages 6 and 7).