UK offshore wind capacity factors

Posted by – 2022/06/19

Here are the average capacity factors for offshore wind farms in UK waters, newly updated to include data to the end of May 2022 (though there are still some figures to come through for the most recent couple of months, but only for the smaller windfarms). There are 40 operational windfarms presented here, and three closed demonstration sites.

2020 set a new record for the highest annual average capacity factor for a UK offshore windfarm: Hywind Scotland achieved 57.1% in the twelve months to March 2020. This floating windfarm, has behaved differently to any windfarm we’ve seen before, and that’s best portrayed in its load duration curve. The load-duration curves at the bottom of this page show the differences in distribution of outputs: click on the individual farm names in the legend, to toggle the display of individual curves.

You might be interested in comparing these with the capacity factors and load-duration curves for Belgium, Denmark and Germany.

All numbers are to the end of May 2022. Analysis by EnergyNumbers.info. Raw data from Ofgem and Elexon
Total
Latest
rolling
12-month
capacity
factor
42.2%
Life
capacity
factor
39.6%
Age
(y)
.
Installed
capacity
(MWp)
12,233
Total
elec. gen.
(GWh)
235,690
Power per
unit area
spanned (W/m2)
1.4
Rolling annual
capacity factors
(click to enlarge)
Total
Aberdeen EOWDC 35.3% 37.4% 3.9931,1941.7Aberdeen EOWDC
Barrow 30.8% 35.4% 15.7904,3783.2Barrow
Beatrice 32.1% 41.8% 3.05886,4381.9Beatrice
Burbo Bank 26.2% 33.4% 14.6903,8593.0Burbo Bank
Burbo Bank 2 36.9% 40.3% 5.22544,6282.6Burbo Bank 2
Dudgeon 45.3% 47.5% 4.64027,7843.5Dudgeon
East Anglia ONE 43.4% 46.8% 1.87145,3922.1East Anglia ONE
Galloper 45.8% 47.1% 4.13536,0391.5Galloper
Greater Gabbard 37.3% 40.6% 8.850415,9291.4Greater Gabbard
Gunfleet Sands 33.2% 36.8% 11.91736,6894.0Gunfleet Sands
Gwynt-y-Mor 31.4% 34.3% 6.957612,1012.9Gwynt-y-Mor
Hornsea One 46.6% 47.3% 2.41,21812,1280.5Hornsea One
Humber Gateway 41.7% 43.4% 7.02195,8303.5Humber Gateway
Hywind Scotland 49.5% 52.6% 4.6306421.0Hywind Scotland
Lincs 41.3% 42.4% 8.72708,7492.8Lincs
London Array 38.3% 40.2% 9.163020,4442.1London Array
Moray East 26.3% 13.2% 0.19501620.4Moray East
Ormonde 25.1% 36.5% 10.31504,9325.5Ormonde
Race Bank 42.8% 43.4% 4.35739,4214.0Race Bank
Rampion 38.1% 36.7% 4.14005,3372.0Rampion
Robin Rigg 33.4% 35.5% 11.71746,3713.4Robin Rigg
Sheringham Shoal 35.9% 39.7% 8.73179,6423.6Sheringham Shoal
Thanet 31.7% 33.5% 11.730010,3172.9Thanet
Triton Knoll 25.0% 23.2% 0.28574241.3Triton Knoll
Walney phase 1 33.8% 39.5% 10.91846,9592.6Walney phase 1
Walney phase 2 41.4% 45.3% 9.91847,2581.8Walney phase 2
Walney 3 & 4 40.5% 46.0% 3.765910,0622.0Walney 3 & 4
Westermost Rough 45.2% 47.3% 7.02106,1222.8Westermost Rough
West of Duddon Sands 41.3% 45.2% 7.638911,6762.6West of Duddon Sands
Beatrice Demo (closed) 14.6% 18.9% 8.310123Beatrice Demo (closed)
Blyth Demo (closed) 18.0% 9.2% 12.8439Blyth Demo (closed)
Blyth Demo Array 2 36.5% 42.7% 3.942586Blyth Demo Array 2
Fife Demo 12.7% 13.6% 8.2772Fife Demo
Gunfleet Sands Demo 13.3% 29.0% 8.7122731.4Gunfleet Sands Demo
Inner Dowsing 33.3% 35.2% 13.2973,9483.9Inner Dowsing
Kentish Flats 28.3% 30.8% 16.5903,9262.8Kentish Flats
Kentish Flats Extension 37.6% 41.9% 6.5501,1512.5Kentish Flats Extension
Kincardine demo (closed) 7.5% 1.921150.0Kincardine demo (closed)
Lynn 33.4% 35.2% 13.2973,9434.3Lynn
North Hoyle 27.3% 32.3% 17.9603,0152.0North Hoyle
Rhyl Flats 34.0% 34.4% 12.5903,3423.2Rhyl Flats
Scroby Sands 32.1% 31.4% 17.5602,8794.5Scroby Sands
Teesside 31.7% 36.0% 7.2621,3735.2Teesside

Load duration curves

I’ve constructed for each of the offshore windfarms for which there is half-hourly metered data. Use the pause and play buttons to stop and start the sequential display of curves. Click on the windfarm name in the legend to toggle the display of that farm’s curve.

Note that for each individual windfarm, its curve is based on data starting from either January 2009, or from the date that the windfarm was fully commissioned, whichever is more recent. The curve for all windfarms is for the last five years.

Capacity factor calculation method

Just as with the Danish offshore windfarm capacity factors, the capacity factors are calculated by calculating, for each wind farm, the number of hours since it was commissioned. This is then multiplied by its capacity, to give the number of peak-MW-hours. This is divided into the total energy generated by that wind farm, to give its capacity factor. The input energy data is from Elexon, and goes back to 2009; and from Ofgem, which goes back to 2000. There are some UK offshore windfarms for which Elexon does not have metered data: for those, I’ve used the REGO data from Ofgem.

To cite this page:

https://energynumbers.info/uk-offshore-wind-capacity-factors by Andrew ZP Smith, ORCID 0000-0002-8215-4526

Closed

Please cite this page as:

Andrew ZP Smith, ORCID: 0000-0003-3289-2237; "UK offshore wind capacity factors". Retrieved from https://energynumbers.info/uk-offshore-wind-capacity-factors on 2024-03-19 04:06 GMT