Installing a wind turbine Why use wind power?

A wind farm

Wind turbines harness natural wind power to produce electricity

Harnessing wind power

Wind power is plentiful and renewable, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions when used instead of electricity generated from fossil fuels. If you use it to produce electricity at home, it will reduce your electricity bills.

Wind turbines produce electricity by harnessing the natural power of the wind to drive a generator.

Wind-derived electrical power comes from two main sources – industrial wind farms (onshore and offshore) and domestic small-scale wind turbines installed by home owners.

Wind farms

Wind farms can be built either onshore or offshore. 

According to wind and marine industry trade body Renewable UK, as of February 2012, the UK had 327 working wind farms, which have 3,619 turbines between the, - that's a capacity of over 6,300 megawatts of electrical power, enough to power about 3.5 million homes.

Work on the world’s largest offshore wind farm off the Kent coastline, known as the London Array project, is currently under way. When complete in 2012, the wind farm will consist of 341 turbines and supply enough power for around 750,000 homes – a quarter of the population of Greater London.

The UK is also home to Europe’s largest onshore wind farm. The Whitelee wind farm in Scotland has 140 turbines, enough to power over 180,000 homes.

Home wind turbines

Home wind turbines are smaller turbines that can fit on roofs or are free standing (pole mounted) to sit in a garden or field.

In July 2009, the UK's largest study of domestic wind turbines conducted by the Energy Saving Trust (EST), found that very few areas of the UK are suitable for a home wind turbine. If you'd like to produce your own electricity, solar panels may well be a better bet. Our guide to installing solar panels explains what types of homes are suitable and how much solar panels cost.

However, if your location is suitable for a wind turbine and you decide to go ahead and install one, you could earn money from it through the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme. Available since 1 April 2010, feed-in tariffs pay you for the electricity you generate, whether you use it at home or export it to the grid (see our section on home wind turbines for more).

a wind farm at sunset

Wind energy is plentiful, renewable and leaves no waste products

Advantages of wind power

  • Electricity generated by the wind does not emit CO2 or leave any waste. Wind is also an infinite resource that cannot be exhausted.
  • A small home wind turbine – when installed properly and in the right location – can cut your reliance on traditional fossil fuel resources.
  • If you install a home wind turbine you can earn money for every kilowatt of electricity you produce, through the Feed-in Tariff, whether you use it at home or export it to the national grid.
  • Wind turbines rely on simple mechanical processes. Once the wind turbine is up and running there are few running costs.
  • Large-scale wind farms can be built at sea to exploit the UK and surrounding seas’ abundant wind flow without cluttering the landscape.

Disadvantages of wind power

  • The EST's study into domestic wind turbines concluded that fewer sites than previously thought are suitable for wind technology, and homeowners should first install an anemometer (wind gauge) and monitor it for at least three months to determine the average wind speed for the location before considering a wind turbine. According to the EST, a suitable site should have a minimum average wind speed of 6m/s – the vast majority of UK households have an average wind speed of less than this.
  • Both small and large-scale wind energy installations may require planning permission – contact your council before you start work.
  • Wind turbine costs are high. Smaller roof-mounted turbines start from around £2,000, ranging up to £25,000 for a mast-mounted model. Large-scale wind farms also require a significant start-up investment from industry.
  • The amount of electricity generated is dependent on the speed and direction of the wind. The wind speed itself depends on a number of factors, such as location within the UK, height of the turbine and nearby obstructions.
  • Many people dislike the appearance and sound of wind turbines in the landscape, although noise pollution is less significant for micro-wind turbines.
  • Anti-wind-farm groups argue that wind farms damage habitats and harm birds and marine ecology (see the Wind farms section for more).
  • Wind is an unpredictable energy source and requires the back up of more traditional and polluting methods of energy generation.

More on this...

Which? works for you