Wind is now Britain’s biggest source of power

Together, offshore and onshore wind turbines generated 32.5% of the total electricity used in the UK during the quarter, while gas-fired power plants only generated 31.7%, new figures from Drax Electric Insights have revealed.

To put those figures in context, that means wind turbines produced 24 terawatt-hours (TWh) of power over the three months, enough to charge more than a million Tesla Model Y cars a month.

This represents a 3% rise in wind power generation since 2022–despite the weather being less windy this year. Gas, meanwhile, is down 5% on the first quarter of 2022.

The UK’s top power sources in numbers

1. Wind (32.5%)
2. Gas (31.7%)
3. Imports (12.6%)
4. Nuclear (12.5%)
5. Biomass (5.7%)
6. Solar (2.3%)
7. Hydro (1.5%)
8. Coal (1.3%)

Over 350 new wind turbines have been installed in UK waters in the past year, including the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, Hornsea Two. Located about 50 miles off the Yorkshire coast, Hornsea Two boasts 165 turbines with a capacity of over 1.3 gigawatts.

Even bigger projects are planned for the near future. The Dogger Bank Wind Farm, in the North Sea off the north-east of England, will have a capacity of 3.6 GW and should be able to power six million homes.

We’re still some way off the UK’s ambitious target of 50 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030–but this year’s developments represent a historic milestone.