Onshore wind installations continued to fall in 2019

Onshore wind installations continued to fall in 2019, according to new figures from Renewable UK, totaling just 629MW of capacity spread across 23 projects.

The figure is down from 651MW the year before and a record high of 2,683MW in 2017. It brings the total installed capacity of onshore wind in the UK to 13GW.

All but one of the projects commissioned last year secured government subsidies through the Contracts for Difference (CfD), Feed-in Tariff or Renewables Obligation schemes. The latter two have since closed to new applicants, whilst onshore wind developers are currently ineligible to bid in CfD auctions.

Renewable UK said there still remains a health pipeline of project in Scotland where, planning applications were submitted for 1,969MW of capacity and consent was granted for 556MW.

The story is different in England and Wales, where the pipeline is running dry. Just 5GW of onshore wind capacity entered the planning system in England in 2019 and only 3GW received approval. There were no projects either submitted or approved in Wales.

“These figures highlight that the current approach is falling short on delivering renewable energy capacity at the level needed for net zero,” said RenewableUK head of policy and regulation Rebecca Williams

“This is a flashing red warning light on our net zero dashboard and we urgently need a new strategy from government.

“Onshore wind is one of the cheapest low carbon technologies in the UK, quick to build, and it’s hugely popular as the government’s own opinion polls show 78 per cent of people support it. As ministers get down to work at the start of a new decade, we need to see new policies which support the full range of clean power sources to transform our energy system”.

The Committee on Climate Change has suggested the UK is likely to require 35GW of onshore wind by 2035 in order to meet the goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.