25 years of British offshore wind | Ember

25 years ago, a new industrial opportunity for Britain began at the Port of Blyth

The first ripples of re-industrialisation

The North East of England has a long association with coal and the origins of the industrial revolution. In 2025 the region is celebrating 200 years since the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, the first public railway in the world to use steam locomotion. Around 50 years later, in 1878, one of the first incandescent lightbulbs was produced by Sunderland-born Sir Joseph Swan, a year before American inventor Thomas Edison. Then, at the turn of the new millenium, the North East produced something revolutionary again: Britain’s first offshore wind farm.

On the 7th December 2000, a new industrial era started, when then Minister for Energy Helen Liddell cut the ribbon in Blyth Harbour on the first offshore wind farm in Britain. Sixth globally, it was described as the first ‘truly offshore’ wind farm in the world, since the preceding five sites were pioneering but at smaller-scale and in more sheltered waters. Built to be bigger and deeper, Blyth was the first wind farm to feel the full force of the open sea.

Offshore wind turbines at Blyth

Developed by a consortium of companies, and constructed from onshore turbine components, Blyth wind farm operated offshore for an impressive 19 years, a kilometer out in the North Sea at an average depth of 8m. Capable of powering around 3,000 homes, the 4 MW wind farm entered into a power system dominated by 25,000 MW of coal power and 23,000 MW of gas power. Over the course of 25 years, this power system of fossil giants was steadily transformed by the rise in renewable energy and the phase-out of coal power. By 2025, Britain has 16,000 MW of offshore wind, 34,000 MW of gas power and 0 MW of coal power following the successful phase-out in 2024.

Overcoming early doubts 25 years ago about the feasibility of open-sea turbines and their impact on local areas, offshore wind is now widely accepted and has received policy support across all three major political parties in Britain across its 25 year history. From a ripple to a great wave, the offshore wind industry has grown to become the second largest power source in the country, supplying nearly a fifth of electricity generation in Britain last year – 17% in 2024. 

A feat of engineering

Twenty five years since the first installation, offshore wind turbines are now installed in greater numbers, at taller heights and in deeper waters, with 47 offshore wind farms currently in operation. At Moray West offshore wind farm, one of the most recently completed in Britain, a single turbine generates more than three times the power output of the entire Blyth offshore wind farm. 

The blades at Moray West sweep an area 10 times larger than those originally at Blyth. Importantly for the British supply chain, critical components were constructed in the country, the blades at the Siemens Gamesa Blade Factory in Hull, the inter-array cables at JDR in Hartlepool and the offshore substations at Smulders UK Yard in Newcastle. 

While challenges arise from these larger turbine sizes, not least the availability of support vessels, the colossal increases in scale represent large steps forward in the British energy transition and the industrial jobs required.

The offshore wind industry is now supported by ports across Britain’s coastline

The coastal regions of Britain play an essential economic role in the wind industry. Without local port infrastructure, neither construction nor maintenance would be possible. For the Dogger Bank wind farm, currently under construction, an estimated £4.4 million was spent in the local area on the construction of a new operations and maintenance base at the Port of Tyne. Across the UK, around 40,000 people are employed in the offshore wind sector, with 7,000 of those jobs newly added in the last two years. The most common roles are turbine and high-voltage technicians, though the sector also widely supports non-engineer roles, such as in the legal and finance sectors. Altogether there are 2,000 companies in the UK in the wind energy supply chain, and significant investment has gone to ports and harbours across the country.

While the port of Blyth still plays an important role in local offshore wind deployment, coastal industrial hubs are emerging in areas such as Hull, Inverness and Grimsby. In 2025 the UK government announced £55 million in grant funding to expand the port at Cromarty Firth to facilitate deep water wind turbine projects. The second floating wind port shortlisted for funding is Port Talbot, helping to energise industry in the same town where the steelworks closed in September 2024.

British wind power is a national success story

Offshore wind is a critical part of the British clean power mission

The government’s clean power target aims to lower emissions and cut reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets. With the approval of Berwick Bank earlier in 2025, there is officially enough consented capacity to achieve the lower bound of the clean power target of 43-50 GW for offshore wind. Generation continues to rise as these wind farms complete construction, in the coming years wind power is set to overtake gas as the largest power source in Britain. 

Britain’s offshore wind policies have led the world

Energy policy in Britain has led the way globally for effective renewable energy price support. Since the implementation of a two-way ‘Contracts for Difference’ support scheme for renewable energy in 2014, many other countries have adopted a similar policy. The policy combines a price-guarantee, to reduce development risk, with an industry auction to cut costs to the consumer. The price guarantee is two-way however: wind farms pay back to the consumer when the wholesale price rises above the auction price. Thirteen other countries have since adopted some form of a two-way auction process. Nine EU member states have run renewable energy auctions, and China has also begun to implement similar market-based schemes. 

British wind has also been a critical stabiliser of prices during volatile periods, despite the high prices of early offshore wind farms. Wind farms paid millions back to households during the gas price spike, due to the two-way nature of Contracts for Difference payments, saving an average of £18 per typical customer during the winter of 2022/2023.

Moray West offshore wind farm. Credit: Ocean Winds.

Britain is building the largest offshore wind farms in the world

Modern British offshore wind farms dwarf the early sites in scale, distance and power. Located 120 km from the Yorkshire coastline, the 2019 wind farm Hornsea 1 was the first offshore wind project in the world over 1 GW in scale. Large offshore wind farms are often built in phases, making it harder to define which sites are the largest. However Hornsea 1 was later surpassed by Hornsea 2, officially the largest in the world at 1.3 GW, made up from 165 turbines each with a diameter of 167m, altogether over 300 times the capacity of Blyth.

Hornsea 2 will in turn be overtaken by Dogger Bank wind farm, under construction in three near-identical phases to a total capacity of 3.6 GW, with the first phase due to come online in early 2026. Scale brings new challenges and opportunities. As a further innovation, Dogger Bank is the first offshore wind farm in Britain to use high voltage DC transmission cables, reducing losses and distance constraints.

Despite serious pressures, calmer waters are on the horizon

Recent challenges in the wider British economy are reflected in serious constraints affecting the wind industry, including supply chain bottlenecks and financing pressures. However, Britain continues to build the largest offshore wind farms in the world and is targeting new manufacturing jobs and innovation in deep-water technologies.

Supply chain constraints can be reduced through new national manufacturing investment

Although Britain has had great success in developing large-scale offshore wind sites, the re-industrialisation benefits are still being won. A sole focus on price reductions obscures a need for wider economic reforms to ensure the health of the supply chain, which can in time deliver price reductions alongside more immediate local investment. Due to the scale of modern offshore wind farms and the stop-start nature of project deployment, the supply chain remains fragile and faces serious constraints, with the potential industrial manufacturing capability in Britain currently under-utilised. The Offshore Wind Industrial Growth Plan highlighted specific strategic areas in which the UK should expand manufacturing capabilities, including in advanced blade technology, deep water foundations and innovative wind farm cable technology. By expanding industrial capabilities, the economic benefits of offshore wind are captured locally despite global pressures increasing the upfront costs.

Consolidation is essential for the next phase of wind farm deployment

A new wave of larger wind turbines are currently being installed, improving costs yet also layering pressures on the limited supply chain. With several record-breaking offshore wind farms under construction, irregular deployment has seemingly been stabilised in the next few years. However, regular manufacturing orders for components are needed to ensure the long-term health of the British supply chain. Therefore, it is the next wave of projects – those preparing for planning applications – which needs to become more standardised in terms of component sizes and deployment schedules. The offshore wind industry is at the foothills of a new phase of deployment, but consolidation is now essential for the long term health of the sector.

International standards for offshore wind can reduce costs and drive innovation

Over two thousand turbines (2,878) have been installed offshore in Britain since the first two at Blyth. The learnings from these installations, and the onshore wind sites before them, have helped engineers overcome monumental challenges. Modern, ever-larger turbines are more powerful, but the lack of standardisation can limit the learning benefits of development at scale, and even stifle innovation. Frequent size increases can lead to lost learnings between projects, greater challenges for transport logistics and reductions in investor confidence. CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation, is planning a standardisation roadmap for offshore wind due 2026, and European manufacturers such as Vestas have also called for standardisation across the industry of certain component dimensions such as platforms and blade length, which will drive innovation in other areas such as software and controls.

In Britain, offshore wind turbine sizes have tended to increase iteratively. The newest round of offshore wind farms will all have blade diameters over 200m. However, a consolidation period is likely to be required to balance performance improvements through increased turbine sizes, with the learnings and benefits of standardisation for the next wave of projects. 

Inflation has rocked both the gas and wind power industries

The price of offshore wind fell significantly between the 2015 and 2021 ‘Contracts for Difference’ auctions, however, prices have since increased. Several factors influenced this, including high interest rates, supply chain constraints and rising materials costs. Similar factors also affect the price of other technologies: new-build gas turbines have been reported to be three-times more expensive than just three years ago. The knock-on effect of these price rises on the wider supply chain risks the viability of existing projects in the pipeline. These constraints raise the political urgency to regularise offshore wind deployment schedules to provide stability to the industry, and expand component manufacturing capacity to reduce bottlenecks and increase employment.

Future innovation is already here

Set up as a publicly-owned energy company in 2025, Great British Energy is a new entrant into the British development and supply chain market. Alongside the Crown Estate and Offshore Wind Growth Partnership, Great British Energy has been allocated £1 billion to invest in clean energy supply chains; for example, the manufacturing of electrical cables and floating offshore platforms which are critical to build a national manufacturing base for offshore wind. While it is still early days for Great British Energy, it exemplifies a new approach which is likely needed to maximise the industrial benefits of the wider sector.

Blyth remains a critical part of the offshore wind industry

The area around Blyth, where the industry kicked-off 25 years ago, is still an important part of the future of offshore wind. The original wind farm has since been decommissioned, removed from the seabed and the components both reused for parts or kept for training purposes at Blyth. One of the largest offshore wind farms, Sofia, is currently under construction based out of the Port of Blyth. Furthermore, a second demonstration wind farm is in operation pushing engineering solutions to new frontiers, using the largest turbine foundations in the world and the novel ‘float and submerge’ method of foundation transportation.

Blyth also hosts significant manufacturing and testing capabilities – a core part of stabilising the development process. The ORE National Renewable Energy Centre, located in Blyth, was expanded in November 2025, and now covers blade, voltage and extreme condition testing facilities, among others. 

With a large queue of new offshore wind farms in development, new manufacturing facilities and engineering laboratories, the next 25 years could see records continue to be broken and jobs created in Blyth and across Britain.

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