Onshore wind renewable energy is simply harnessing the power of wind blown over land. Onshore wind farms are relatively easy to build and maintain but have less potential electricity generating power than offshore wind renewable energy turbines. At present, most of the UK’s wind renewable energy is situated onshore.

Offshore wind renewable energy are turbines built at sea. They bypass many of the land-based constraints that onshore face and have more renewable electricity generating potential: on the oceans, wind is more predictable and stronger. They are, however, comparatively difficult to build, maintain and connect to the national grid.

Wind has been harnessed to drive machines for centuries. Like hydropower renewable energy, the late 1800s saw a surge in interest in using wind renewable energy to generate electricity. In 1887 in Scotland, James Blyth used wind renewable energy to generate electricity, whilst at the same time on the other side of the Atlantic, Charles Brush powered his laboratory using wind renewable energy for 20 years.

Wind renewable energy continued to be used on a small scale throughout the twentieth century, particularly in rural locations that were not supplied by the electricity grid. Denmark has long been the spiritual home of wind renewable energy. Fuel crises in the 1970s and fears over the safety of nuclear energy after Chernobyl saw a concerted effort in the development of renewable energy and wind renewable energy in particular. The world’s first offshore wind renewable energy farm was built off the cost of Denmark in 1991.

Despite hydropower’s strong global position, wind renewable energy has been the fastest growing renewable energy source for the last three years and, in 2009, accounted for 2% of global electricity production. Some European countries have seized the opportunity to develop wind renewable energy with Denmark, Ireland, Portugal and Spain leading the way.

Although continental Europe has a long association with wind renewable energy it is actually the United Kingdom which has large and mostly under-developed renewable wind energy potential. In 2009, the UK government announced to parliament that wind power would serve as a cornerstone in its renewable electricity generation strategy. From the humble origins of Delabole, the UK’s first commercial wind farm built in 1991, the UK can now boast the world’s largest offshore wind farm, which opened off the coast of Thanet, Kent in September 2010.

Wind energy is a readily available resource and a free ‘fuel’. There are no pollutants produced as a by-product and it has been estimated that a wind turbine ‘pays back’ the energy created in its manufacture after four to five months of operation with the turbines themselves having a lifespan of around 20 years.

The technology is proven and relatively simple. Onshore wind farms are comparatively cheap to build, with ‘community-owned’ wind turbines growing in popularity. They allow farmers a secondary source of income for their land. It is also very cheap and easy to remove wind turbines and restore the land to its original function, in sharp contrast to nuclear decommissioning.

At present, offshore wind renewable energy is one of the most expensive ways of generating electricity per unit. This is largely due to the logistics of constructing, connecting and maintaining wind farms at sea, with the fleet of specially designed ships themselves accounting for a substantial part of the overall costs. These costs are likely to increase as technology and infrastructure advances are made.

The turbines can only turn when the wind is blowing between UK wind renewable energy has a load factor (the amount of time an electricity generator will produce) of around 30% annually. Whilst this may sound poor, it is important to realise that even non-renewable electricity power plants only operate some of the time and the UK grid always contains spare capacity generation to account for sudden failures of scheduled maintenance of plants.

Wind farm impact on wildlife is a serious consideration during every site proposal during the Environmental Impact Assessment stage. The RSPB monitors renewable wind energy farm effects on birdlife in particular and assess the impact as minimal where sites are chosen away from major migration routes.