UK wind power celebrates 25 years

The UK’s first wind farm started generating clean electricity 25 years ago in Cornwall.

The Delabole onshore windfarm is celebrating 21 December as the day its 10 turbines were switched on in 1991. The project, which is now owned by independent supplier Good Energy, has generated over 340GWh of electricity and has since been upgraded to double its capacity.

Good Energy chief executive Juliet Davenport said: “This is an incredible achievement for the renewable industry – and a big moment for Delabole. Since the turbines started turning, renewable technologies have come a long way, with wind power generating a record-breaking 12 per cent of the UK’s electricity in 2015.

“The success of the wind farm has largely been down to the support of the local community who are the real custodians of this site. It’s thanks to them and their belief in the project that has helped make Delabole the perfect model for further wind power developments here in the UK.”

According to Renewable UK, there are now more than 1,000 commercial-scale UK wind energy projects operating onshore and offshore.

Renewable UK’s executive director Emma Pinchbeck said: “1991 was a year for innovation: in the spring a British scientist introduced the world wide web, and by Christmas, Delabole’s first turbines were turning. And just as the dawn of the internet has changed how we communicate, so renewables are revolutionising the way we generate electricity, replacing old technology with new.”

Three facts about the British wind power industry:

– The British wind industry was born in the same year the world wide web was launched

– Since 1991 the Delabole windfarm has generated 340GWh of renewable electricity, which is enough power to cook more than 40 million Christmas turkeys

– Over the last 25 years onshore and offshore wind energy in the UK has generated more than 185 million megawatt hours