Wind powers ahead

Even climate change sceptics who bemoan the investment in renewable technologies cannot argue that it has been a good year for wind energy, particularly in the UK. With the commissioning of the Thanet offshore wind farm in September, the installed capacity of wind power topped the 5GW mark in the UK, this just a year after hitting 4GW. The completion of the 180MW Robin Rigg and 173MW Gunfleet Sands wind farms in April marked 2010 as the year that offshore wind broke the 1GW barrier for total deployment.