Wind power for the UK

The objective of the Wind Energy R&D programme of the Department of Energy is to assess the technical and economic potential of wind turbines for centralised generation of electricity. The DEn work programme has three aspect. Firstly the development and demonstration of prototype large wind turbines from specific manufacturers, secondly the assessment of the resources (both on-land and off-shore) and the cost of exploiting it taking into account siting and environmental constraints and thirdly an underlying R&D programme. The potential and limitations of the technology are being carefully examined; the results are very encouraging and the programme is becoming increasingly concerned with the commercial exploitation of the resource