Nov 9 marks 35 years since the UK’s first onshore wind farm began to generate clean power. Delabole, located in Cornwall, became operational in November 1991, paving the way for a major new industry which now provides enough power to supply 10 million homes each year. Built by local farmer and industry pioneer, Peter Edwards, the original site consisted of ten 400 kilowatt (0.4 megawatt) turbines. Later in 2010, the site was repowered via the installation of four new and more powerful turbines, with a capacity of 2.3MW each - enough to power more than 6,000 UK homes a year.
In the three and a half decades since, the UK’s onshore fleet has grown to just under 10,000 turbines, with a capacity of 16,374 MW (16.4GW) – enough to power almost 9,000 hospitals and charge over 14 million EVs for a year! Each gigawatt we build generates enough electricity to power more than 650,000 homes annually, and the onshore wind sector supports 15,000 workers, set to rise to 19,000 by 2030 if Government ambitions are met.
Onshore wind provided 12% of the UK’s electricity demand in 2025, rising to 15% in the first quarter of 2026, and the industry is working to upgrade and modernise many of our first generation of turbines, which have a typical lifespan of 35 years. This is done through a process called ‘repowering’, which involves onshore wind farms having their original turbines removed and replaced with modern, more efficient models on the same site. Repowering can boost an onshore wind farm’s output by between 3 and 10 times, and there are also a number of sites undergoing a ‘lifetime extension’ through the replacement of specific components, such as new blades, ensuring we get the maximum benefit from our existing assets.
Around 2,000 companies all around the UK are now part of the wind energy supply chain, including 160 factories, which are forecast to contribute £18.2 billion to the UK economy over the next decade. Looking ahead, there are more than 2GW of onshore wind currently under construction, which could be fully operational in the next two years, as well as a further 7.1GW consented through to 2033.
The pipeline of onshore wind farms at any stage of development in the UK (operational, under construction, consented, in the planning system or at an early stage of development) now stands at over 50GW across more than 3,500 projects. Looking ahead, the Government has set targets to reach up to 29GW of onshore wind by 2030, which is almost double the UK’s current capacity of 16.4GW. Setting this ambitious target gives investors confidence that the Government is committed to ramping up clean power as rapidly as possible, to increase our nation’s energy security and make us less dependent on expensive imported fossil fuels from unstable regions of the world.
Crucially, onshore wind is also one of our cheapest forms of new power, standing at less than half the cost of generating electricity from new gas plants. It is also one of the fastest to build, helping to stablilise bills whilst pushing more expensive gas off our energy system at a time when the cost of living is a critical issue.
What’s more, onshore wind is extremely popular, with the latest Government surveys showing 73% of the public support it, compared with just 7% opposed. When asked specifically about an onshore wind farm in their own local area, more than twice as many people said they would be happy about it (37%) than those who said they would be unhappy (16%).
One of the reasons for this popularity is the economic benefits it brings, with our analysis showing that building new onshore wind farms through to 2030, in order to reach the Government's target, would save UK billpayers £3 billion a year, compared to the cost of producing the same amount of electricity from new gas-fired power stations.
Our analysis also shows that reaching the 29GW target would deliver nearly half a billion pounds a year to local communities. This includes £348 million in business and property rates, as well as £145 million in direct, long-term, annual community benefit funds. These help to pay for local priorities that people choose to support, such as community buildings and facilities, environmental schemes, skills and training, measures to tackle fuel poverty and rural isolation, and even saving community pubs. Developers across the onshore wind sector engage closely with local communities at the earliest stages of each project, setting out clearly the economic and environmental benefits it will bring, as we want to build projects with local support.
RenewableUK’s CEO Tara Singh commented:
'The remarkable growth of our onshore wind industry has brought jobs, investment, energy security, and benefits to local communities across the UK. Since 1991, we have seen a nascent technology rapidly transform into a cornerstone of our future energy system, with the UK at the forefront of technological improvements throughout this time.
'We have ambitious onshore wind targets to deliver by 2030, with a key step coming early next year in the Government’s next auction for clean power, which comes against a backdrop of eye-watering gas prices and volatile global events which demonstrate yet again that the best way to reduce our exposure to fossil-fuel price shocks is by generating more of our own electricity here in the UK, at the stable prices renewables offer.
'We are anticipating a high degree of competition at this auction, which will ensure value for hard-pressed billpayers. We must be ambitious to ensure we build on the record-breaking capacity procured in the previous auction at the start of the year, which secured enough new onshore wind to meet the needs over 1.2 million homes a year. We look forward to the Government announcing the auction budget next week and hope that this will be set at a level which maximises the amount of low-cost power we can deliver for British homes and businesses, all the while significantly strengthening our energy security'.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks added:
'35 years ago, 10 turbines started spinning in a small Cornish village, kickstarting an industry that today supports thousands of good jobs and generates enough electricity to power over 10 million homes a year.
'But for too long, onshore wind was held back by a de facto ban in England that put the brakes on British jobs, investment and growth.
'We've lifted that ban because Britain should be building things again. That means backing British workers, repowering aging onshore wind farms, bringing good jobs to communities across the country, and making sure the clean energy we produce here at home delivers lower bills for households.'
Source: RenewableUK
