Energy Numbers

Here are the average capacity factors for offshore wind farms in UK waters, newly updated to include data to the end of August 2026 (though there are still some figures to come through for the most recent couple of months, but only for the smaller windfarms). There are 45 operational windfarms presented here, and three closed demonstration sites.

Hywind Scotland has returned to 50%+ rolling capacity factors. 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 August 2026. Analysis by EnergyNumbers.info. Raw data from Ofgem and Elexon Total	Latest rolling 12-month capacity factor 39.2%	Life capacity factor 38.6%	Age (y) .	Installed capacity (MWp) 16,076	Total elec. gen. (GWh) 441,929	Power per unit area spanned (W/m2) 1.6	Rolling annual capacity factors (click to enlarge)
Aberdeen EOWDC	39.6%	35.7%	8.2	93	2,383	1.7
Barrow	24.4%	33.7%	19.9	90	5,314	3.0
Beatrice	44.4%	40.1%	7.2	588	15,168	1.8
Burbo Bank	35.0%	32.6%	18.9	90	4,866	2.9
Burbo Bank 2	40.3%	39.4%	9.4	254	8,275	2.5
Dudgeon	49.8%	46.3%	8.9	402	14,551	3.4
East Anglia ONE	48.6%	44.1%	6.1	714	17,030	1.9
Galloper	49.6%	47.0%	8.4	353	12,236	1.5
Greater Gabbard	39.8%	39.4%	13.1	504	22,804	1.4
Gunfleet Sands	34.0%	35.9%	16.2	173	8,843	3.9
Gwynt-y-Mor	37.7%	33.5%	11.2	576	19,057	2.8
Hornsea One	49.4%	45.7%	6.7	1,218	32,962	1.4
Humber Gateway	44.2%	42.2%	11.2	219	9,188	3.4
Hywind Scotland	51.4%	48.6%	8.9	30	1,141	1.0
Lincs	44.4%	41.6%	12.9	270	12,814	2.7
London Array	44.1%	40.4%	13.4	630	29,919	2.1
Moray East	18.1%	22.1%	4.4	950	8,145	0.7
Ormonde	35.9%	34.5%	14.5	150	6,610	5.2
Race Bank	45.0%	42.3%	8.6	573	18,234	3.9
Rampion	46.7%	39.2%	8.4	400	11,575	2.2
Robin Rigg	38.1%	35.5%	16.0	174	8,653	3.4
Sheringham Shoal	38.3%	38.5%	13.0	317	13,894	3.5
Thanet	32.3%	33.1%	15.9	300	13,914	2.8
Triton Knoll	41.8%	37.8%	4.5	857	12,773	2.2
Walney phase 1	41.2%	38.9%	15.1	184	9,488	2.5
Walney phase 2	46.5%	44.3%	14.2	184	10,156	1.8
Walney 3 & 4	47.4%	45.4%	8.0	659	20,970	2.0
Westermost Rough	49.8%	46.2%	11.3	210	9,635	2.8
West of Duddon Sands	44.6%	44.1%	11.8	389	17,909	2.6
Beatrice Demo		24.4%	8.3	10	123
Blyth Demo		14.7%	12.8	4	39
Blyth Demo Array 2		41.3%	8.2	42	1,214
Fife Demo		19.5%	12.5	7	133
Gunfleet Sands Demo		30.1%	13.0	12	402	1.4
Inner Dowsing		35.3%	17.4	97	5,209	3.9
Kentish Flats		30.4%	20.7	90	4,920	2.8
Kentish Flats Extension		41.4%	10.7	50	1,900	2.5
Kincardine demo		41.0%	1.9	2	13
Lynn		34.7%	17.4	97	5,155	4.3
North Hoyle		34.7%	22.2	60	3,530	2.2
Rhyl Flats		34.7%	16.7	90	4,443	3.2
Scroby Sands		31.2%	21.7	60	3,533	4.4
Teesside		35.5%	11.4	62	2,175	5.1
Hornsea Two	48.6%	42.7%	4.2	1,386	21,627	1.3
Seagreen	16.9%	15.9%	2.8	1,075	4,240	0.4
Moray West	15.8%	15.1%	1.5	882	1,759	0.6
Neart na Gaoithe	45.7%	42.6%	1.4	450	2,381	1.8
Kincardine	11.7%	28.6%	5.0	50	626	0.6

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 period since 2017.

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.

Data Licence

Contains BMRS data © Elexon Limited copyright and database right 2026