7th ISF

ENVI017 - Can Wind Energy Power the UK County of Cornwall, Thus Providing a Renewable Clean Energy Source?

As of writing, wind power is the second largest renewable energy producer for the globe, being responsible for 26.8% within the UK in 2022, and 7% of total global energy production. There are currently 11,000 operational wind turbines within the UK, with a 50% split between on and offshore. The UK government is using wind power as the backbone for a renewable energy revolution hoping that it can transform the entire UK energy industry to being net zero by 2050 at the latest. We can see the developments in recent history, with capacity increasing on average 15% each year from 2013 with a total increase in offshore and onshore capacity of 4,370 megawatts in the past two years. Projects such as Celtic Seas aim to increase the UK9s capacity by over 100 GW by 2030. But is there any validity to their claims? Such projects will be accompanied by advancements in design such as the implementation of carbon fibre. As by reducing weight there is the ability for larger sweep areas (whilst maintaining a similar force on the rotor and tower). As output is directly proportional to the area of the rotor i.e. the square of the diameter as well as the wind speed cubed. Thus for a given site with a defined wind speed the only way to increase the power output is to increase the size of the rotor. In order to predict if wind energy is the reliable means to a carbon neutral Britain we calculated the costs, the benefits and the drawbacks of completely powering the UK9s southwest county of Cornwall via only wind turbines

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