Story · Energy map · about 3 min
Wind farms, solar farms and where they sit
Renewable energy sits where the resource is. The Met Office's wind-speed grid and the government's register of renewable projects tell the story together.
Where the wind blows
Annual mean wind speed at 10 m is highest on exposed hills, coasts and islands in the north and west, and lowest in sheltered inland lowlands.
Onshore wind: mostly Scotland
The register lists 785 operational onshore wind projects totalling about 15.5 GW, and 66% of that capacity is in Scotland. Circle size is capacity; click for a site's name and operator.
Offshore: fewer, bigger
Only 49 operational offshore projects, but about 16.0 GW between them, more than all the onshore wind put together. Wind at sea blows harder and steadier, with nothing in the way and no one nearby to object to the view, so the turbines built there are bigger and run closer to full capacity more of the time.
Solar follows the sun
1,407 operational solar projects over 150 kW add up to about 11.1 GW, and 85% of that capacity is south of 53°N. Compare it with the sunshine layer for 2024. The register only lists projects over 150 kW; rooftop panels are not here.
For classrooms and curious minds
Questions to talk about, alone or in a group.
- Why do wind farms cluster where they do, and what might limit them in other places?
- What are the trade-offs between putting turbines on land and at sea?
Try it on the map: Switch on mean wind speed, then the renewable projects. Do the biggest projects sit on the windiest ground?
The figures above are calculated from the datasets listed on Data & sources and are approximate: many map layers are modelled or interpolated. Read each layer’s caveats on the map.