| abstract | - Wind power in the United Kingdom passed the milestone of 2 GW installed capacity on 9 February 2007 with the opening of the Braes O'Doune wind farm, near Stirling. The UK became the 7th country in the world to reach this capacity. The world leader in wind power is Germany with 20.6 GW installed. Currently, approximately 1.5% of UK electricity is generated by wind power (with a total of around 4.5% of UK electricity coming from all renewable sources.) This is expected to rise dramatically in coming years, as a result of UK Energy Policy strongly supporting new renewable energy generating capacity. In the short to medium term, the bulk of this new capacity is expected to be provided by onshore and offshore wind power. Plans for a massive expansion of a wind energy programme in the UK are to be unveiled by the Government. They will include the building of 7000 wind turbines. Through the mechanism of Renewables Obligation Certificates, British electricity suppliers are now required by law to provide a proportion of their sales from renewable sources such as wind power or pay a penalty fee. The ROCs are the principal form of support for UK wind power, providing around half of the revenue from wind generation. Wind energy is also exempt from the climate change levy which is paid by fossil-fuel and nuclear generators. Government targets anticipate a capacity utilisation factor (CF) of 30%, implying that 2GW of installed capacity will provide an average of 600MW to the national grid. A study by the Renewable Energy Foundation found that in practice only a few Scottish wind farms achieved this level, while turbines in lowland England were much less efficient, some operating at less than 10% of capacity. The foundation argued that too much subsidy had encouraged wind development on poor sites. Offshore Wind farms however generally have a higher capacity rating for which the 30% figure can be considered a more conservative estimate.
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