The ninth of November marks 35 years since the UK’s first onshore wind farm began to generate clean power.

In the three and a half decades, the UK’s onshore fleet has grown from ten 400kW turbines to just under 10,000 turbines, with a capacity of 16.4GW.

Delabole, located in Cornwall, became operational in November 1991, built by local farmer and industry pioneer, Peter Edwards, the original site consisted of Later in 2010, the site was repowered via the installation of four new and more powerful turbines, with a capacity of 2.3MW each.

Onshore wind provided 12 per cent of the UK’s electricity demand in 2025, rising to 15 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, and the industry is working to upgrade and modernise many of our first generation of turbines, which have a typical lifespan of 35 years.

Looking ahead, there are already more than 2GW of onshore wind currently under construction, which could be fully operational in the next two years, as well as a further 7.1GW consented through to 2033, and the Government has set targets to reach up to 29GW of onshore wind by 2030.

RenewableUK CEO Tara Singh commented: “We have ambitious onshore wind targets to deliver by 2030, with a key step coming early next year in the Government’s next auction for clean power, which comes against a backdrop of eye-watering gas prices and volatile global events which demonstrate yet again that the best way to reduce our exposure to fossil-fuel price shocks is by generating more of our own electricity here in the UK, at the stable prices renewables offer.”

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