Q&A: Wind power

What's the history of wind energy?

For centuries, people have harnessed the wind's energy for power, to sail ships (the ancient Egyptians) or to power windmills to grind grain (the Persians). The Dutch are famous for their windmills, which have formed the basis for the design of the modern wind turbines that we see today.

How does wind energy work?

Wind power uses turbines to harness the kinetic energy of the wind and turn it into electricity.

Wind turbines usually have three rotor blades, similar to the propeller blades on an airplane. The blades face into the wind, and the wind forces them to turn around. This then rotates a hub inside the turbine, which is connected to a generator that creates the electricity.

Turbines tend to be built together, as "wind farms", to produce more electricity in places that have strong, steady winds.

Wind farms can be onshore - on ridgelines, at the tops of rounded hills, open plains and gaps in mountains; near shore - on land within three kilometres of a shoreline, or offshore - generally 10km or more from land.

Onshore wind farm projects are finding it increasingly difficult to get planning approval because opposition to them is becoming more entrenched and better organised.

Offshore farms cost more to build but produce more electricity because they usually stand in open, windier spots. However, current offshore farms can encroach on shipping lanes, affect seabird sanctuaries and disturb marine life, limiting the number of suitable sites.

Wind energy is now available for both large and small-scale electricity generation, with huge technological advances over the past 20 years.

How many wind farms are there in the UK?

The UK has some of the best wind resources in Europe, if not the world, in both onshore and offshore locations. This makes the British Isles a very attractive location for wind developments, as high average wind speeds and good reliability results in more power output and lower costs.

The number of wind farms in the UK is steadily increasing. The first wind farm was set up in November 1991. According to the British Wind Energy Association, there are currently 155 wind farm projects in the UK, with 1,900 turbines creating enough energy to power the equivalent of 1,282,992 homes and saving 5,185,855 tonnes of carbon. This year alone, 17 new farms came online.

However, wind turbines do not yet make a significant contribution to electricity production, making up just 0.75% of the national total.

The government is committed to building more wind farms, with promises that wind energy will "make the main contribution" to the government's eventual target of producing 15% of its energy via renewable sources by 2015.

What are the benefits of wind energy?

Wind energy is an inexpensive, clean and reliable form of power produced in an environmentally friendly way – the turbines don't produce chemical or radioactive emissions.

The ground on which the turbines are positioned can still be used for agricultural purposes – such as sheep grazing, and if the turbines need to be taken down, there is no damage to the environment and no residues are left behind.

So why do so many people oppose wind farms?

The biggest argument against large-scale wind farms is their impact on the natural landscape. Onshore wind farm projects are finding it increasingly difficult to get planning approval in the UK because local residents are fighting against wind farms being positioned in their area. The main worries are that they ruin the landscape – because they generally have to be positioned on hills to get the maximum benefits of the wind.

Country Guardian has been campaigning against the construction of wind turbines in environmentally sensitive areas in the UK since 1991. "We object because wind turbines convert rural landscape into industrial landscape, and because they are a poor source of renewable energy," the group says.

There are now 151 UK anti-wind farm action groups in the UK which have been formed as a result of wind farm developments planned for local countryside areas.

Conservationist David Bellamy has voiced opposition to the growing number of wind farms being built in Scotland, calling them a potential "blot on the landscape".

The Campaign to Protect Rural England says it favours building wind farms offshore wherever possible. "If they're on land, they should go through the planning system and they should be built away from beautiful landscapes," the group says.

The noise generated from wind turbines has also been criticised by some people who live very close to wind farms.

Anti-wind farm groups also say that wind farms can be costly to maintain and electricity produced by this method is more expensive than that produced by other means. They argue that the money would be better put into energy conservation.

Another strong argument against the construction of wind farms – particularly offshore ones- is the threat to birds.

The RSPB, which supports wind power, says it objects only when there is "insufficient information about the risks to birds and their habitats to conclude that there will not be a problem".

Evidence shows that appropriately positioned wind farms do not pose a significant hazard for birds, the group says. However, "evidence from the US and Spain confirms that poorly sited wind farms can cause severe problems for birds, through disturbance, habitat loss/damage or collision with turbines".

The RSPB has objected to 76 wind farm proposals (on and offshore) between 2000-04 and has raised concerns about a further 129. It recently objected to a proposed 234-turbine wind farm on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides, on an extremely fragile and special area for wildlife.

And the London Array project also had to overcome earlier opposition from the RSPB by making changes to a scheme which could have threatened the red-throated divers that occasionally winter in that part of Kent.

Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and WWF are all supporters of wind power.

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