UK wind market outlook doubles

The market for small wind turbines is expected to double this year in the U.K. and then double again in 2009, according to a new report from the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA).

The trade association made the prediction in its BWEA Small Wind Systems UK Market Report 2008, which said 7,844 private wind systems were set to be installed this year, up from 3,459 in 2007. The group projected 13,611 will be installed in 2009—for a cumulative total of 27,866 installed throughout the UK.

Small wind is a category of wind generation systems capable of producing 50 kilowatts or less electricity. The small-wind category as a whole produced about 14.73 megawatts of electricity in 2007, according to the report. The report estimates the added turbine capacity would bring the UK to 32.38 MW in 2008 and 64.34 MW in 2009.

The entire wind sector was 2.389 gigawatts in 2007 up from 1.962 gigawatts in 2006. The total UK electricity generating capacity was 83 GW, according to a recent report from the Global Wind Energy Council. There is over 13 GW of wind energy in various stages of development, according to the BWEA.

Analysts say offshore wind farms have huge potential for energy generation. In May, Perth, Scotland's Scottish and Southern Energy (LON: SSE) signed $3 billion in contracts to build the 500 MW, 140 turbine offshore Greater Gabbard project (see UK approves Greater Gabbard wind farm and Scottish and Southern signs $3B in wind contracts).

The UK's Renewables Obligation Order has a target of 15.4 percent of electricity supply from renewables by March 2016 in England and Wales (see U.K. introduces new energy bill). The UK got about 4.9 percent of power supplies from renewable generation in 2007, up from 2 percent in 2001.

Projections for growth in the wind market come after several years of hampered progress because of opposition by local governments and a lack of government policies, according to the Global Wind Energy Council and the BWEA reports.

"Two years after government promised to tackle this issue, industry, local authorities and consumers are still waiting for detailed planning guidance and permitted development rights to be issued," said Alex Murley, BWEA Small Systems Manager, in a release.

The BWEA also emphasized the possibility for growth in the wind sector to create tens of thousands of U.K.-based manufacturing jobs.

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