Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the average capacity factor was for the fixed bottom offshore windfarm fleet in each of the last five years; what the average capacity factor was for fixed bottom offshore windfarms that were commissioned between 2017 and 2020; and if he will make an estimate of the capacity factor of windfarms due to be commissioned in 2025.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department publishes historic capacity factors (also known as load factors) for offshore wind generation. These can be found in ‘Digest of UK Energy Statistics: Chapter 6.3’ - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/renewable-sources-of-energy-chapter-6-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes
Year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Offshore Wind Load Factor (%) | 39.9 | 40.4 | 45.7 | 37.4 | 40.7 |
The Department publishes estimates for future offshore wind load factors for given commissioning years in Annex A of ‘Electricity Generation Costs Report 2023’ -https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-generation-costs-2023
Year | 2025 | 2030 | 2035 | 2040 |
Fixed Bottom Offshore Wind Load Factor (%) | 61 | 65 | 69 | 69 |
The main reason we expect load factors to be higher for new wind farms commissioning in 2025 compared to the existing fleet is due to the increased turbine size and improved technology of newer turbines.