David Martin is a Scottish politician who has served as co-convener of the Citizens' Assembly of Scotland since 2019. A member of the Scottish Labour Party, he was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1984 to 2019, having first represented the Lothians constituency until 1999 and then for the Scotland constituency. He was the United Kingdom's longest serving MEP and the second longest serving MEP in the whole European Parliament.
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an extensive area. Wind farms can be either onshore or offshore.
As a geographical entity distinct from the mainland, the Isle of Wight has always fought to have this identity recognised. The Isle of Wight is currently a ceremonial and Non-metropolitan county and local government is by unitary authority. The island is also the highest populated Westminster constituency in the country.
The United Kingdom is the best location for wind power in Europe and one of the best in the world. By 2023, the UK had over 11 thousand wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 28 gigawatts (GW): 14 GW onshore and 14 GW offshore, the sixth largest capacity of any country. Wind power generated about 25% of UK electricity, having surpassed coal in 2016 and nuclear in 2018. It is the largest source of renewable electricity in the UK.
The Thanet Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm 7 miles (11 km) off the coast of Thanet district in Kent, England. On commissioning it was the world's largest offshore wind farm. It has a nameplate capacity of 300 MW and it cost £780–900 million (US$1.2–1.4 billion). Thanet is one of fifteen Round 2 wind projects announced by the Crown Estate in January 2004 but the first to be developed. It was officially opened on 23 September 2010, when it overtook Horns Rev 2 as the biggest offshore wind farm in the world. It has since been overtaken by many others.
Greater Gabbard is a 504 MW wind farm, built on sandbanks 23 kilometres (14 mi) off the coast of Suffolk in England at a cost of £1.5 billion. It was completed on 7 September 2012 with all of the Siemens SWT3.6–107 turbines connected. Developed as a joint venture between Airtricity and Fluor, it is now jointly owned by SSE Renewables and Innogy.
Wind power is the fastest-growing renewable energy technology in Scotland, with 11,482 megawatts (MW) of installed wind power capacity by Q1 2023. This included 9,316 MW from onshore wind in Scotland and 2,166 MW of offshore wind generators.
Gwynt y Môr is a 576-megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm located off the coast of Wales and is the fifth largest operating offshore windfarm in the world. The farm has 160 wind turbines of 150 metres (490 ft) tip height above mean sea level.
In 2021 France reached a total of 18,676 megawatts (MW) installed wind power capacity placing France at that time as the world's seventh largest wind power nation by installed capacity, behind the United Kingdom and Brazil and ahead of Canada and Italy. According to the IEA the yearly wind production was 20.2 TWh in 2015, representing almost 23% of the 88.4 TWh from renewable sources in France during that year. Wind provided 4.3% of the country's electricity demand in 2015.
Robin Rigg Wind Farm, Scotland's first offshore wind farm, was constructed by E.ON at Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth, a sandbank midway between the Galloway and Cumbrian coasts. The windfarm first generated power for test purposes on 9 September 2009. The wind farm was completed on 20 April 2010.
A floating wind turbine is an offshore wind turbine mounted on a floating structure that allows the turbine to generate electricity in water depths where fixed-foundation turbines are not feasible. Floating wind farms have the potential to significantly increase the sea area available for offshore wind farms, especially in countries with limited shallow waters, such as Japan, France and US West coast. Locating wind farms further offshore can also reduce visual pollution, provide better accommodation for fishing and shipping lanes, and reach stronger and more consistent winds.
West of Duddon Sands Wind Farm (WoDS), occasionally also known as West Duddon Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm located 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) south west of Walney Island off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, in the Irish Sea, England. It was developed by Scottish Power and Ørsted A/S.
Walney Wind Farms are a group of offshore wind farms 9 miles (14 km) west of Walney Island off the coast of Cumbria, England, in the Irish Sea. The group, operated by Ørsted, consists of Walney Phase 1, Phase 2 and the Walney Extension. The extension has a capacity of 659 MW and it was the world's second largest offshore wind farm in 2018.
Teesside Wind Farm, or alternatively referred to as Redcar Wind Farm, is a 27 turbine 62 MW capacity offshore wind farm constructed just to the east of the mouth of the River Tees and 1.5 km north of Redcar off the North Yorkshire coast, in the North Sea, England.
The 2014 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2014 European Parliament election, held on Thursday 22 May 2014, coinciding with the 2014 local elections in England and Northern Ireland. In total, 73 Members of the European Parliament were elected from the United Kingdom using proportional representation. England, Scotland and Wales use a closed-list party list system of PR, while Northern Ireland used the single transferable vote (STV).
The Beatrice Oil Field is a small oilfield consisting of 3 platforms located 24 km off the north east coast of Scotland. It began operations in 1980 with the field finally being decommissioned in 2017.
Ian James Duncan, Baron Duncan of Springbank is a Scottish politician serving as a deputy speaker in the House of Lords. A member of the Conservative Party, he was formerly Minister for Climate Change in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and minister in the Northern Ireland Office. He initially joined the UK Government as a Scotland Office minister following the 2017 UK general election. Duncan was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Scotland from 2014 to 2017. He is the only minister to have served in each of the UK Government's territorial offices.
The European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC), also known as the Aberdeen Bay Wind Farm is an offshore wind test and demonstration facility located around 3 kilometres off the east coast of Aberdeenshire, in the North Sea, Scotland. It was developed by the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre consortium. The scheme is relatively small - it consists of 11 wind turbines with an installed capacity of 93.2 megawatts. It is located between Blackdog and Bridge of Don near Aberdeen. First power was generated in July 2018, with full commissioning following in September 2018.
The East Anglia Array is a proposed series of offshore wind farms located around 30 miles off the east coast of East Anglia, in the North Sea, England. It has begun with the currently operational East Anglia ONE, that has been developed in partnership by ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall. Up to six individual projects could be set up in the area with a maximum capacity of up to 7.2 GW. The first project, East Anglia ONE at 714 MW, received planning consent in June 2014 and contracts in April 2016. Offshore construction began in 2018 and the project was commissioned in July 2020. It is expected to cost £2.5 billion.
Trump International Golf Club Scotland Ltd v Scotland [2015] UKSC 74 is a 2015 judgment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on the authority of the Scottish government to allow windfarm applications, under the Electricity Act 1989. It is relevant for UK enterprise law and the regulation of UK wind power.
