Wind energy in the UK has broken all records in 2006 according to BWEA. The campaigning body claim that 2006 has been the most productive and successful year for the sector since the country’s first commercial wind farm started generating 15 years ago. A record breaking 630 new megawatts (MW) of wind energy have been commissioned in 2006: an increase of 50% on performance of 2005, which in turn saw a 100% increase on capacity commissioned in 2004. The countdown has now begun to the UK’s second gigawatt of installed capacity only 18 months after commissioning its first firmly positioning the wind industry as a key player in the UK energy market and the UK wind industry in the top ten players globally. And in a move which is likely to arouse the suspicions of environmentalists, BP is to join the BWEA early in the new year. Shell has been a member for some years and other big power producers, such as Centrica, owner of British Gas, E.ON of Germany and Scottish Power, have also joined. Britain’s biggest oil company is going to make sure it has influence inside the BWEA by becoming a “sponsor member”, which means it will have a seat on the board. BP’s close links with the government have made it an especially desirable ally in the eyes of the wind energy movement.

Green campaigners are suspicious of the global giant which talks about green issues but invests little. According to the Guardian, neither BWEA nor BP was willing to comment. BP has no wind farms in Britain and very few such assets outside, apart from a couple of experimental plants in the Netherlands. But it established an alternative energy division last year and has set itself ambitious targets to develop solar and other operations. Wind energy is officially the fastest growing energy source world wide, with an average annual growth rate of 23% over the last 15 years. And in the UK, with some of the best winds in the world, this trend is very evident. According to BWEA a record number of homes will be powered by the wind this winter, with turbines in the UK generating sufficient electricity to meet the needs of over a million households or to boil enough water for two billion cups of tea.

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