What is renewable energy?

The way we produce and use energy needs to change. We need a lot more energy from renewable sources like wind turbines and solar farms to meet the UK’s targets, safeguard future generations from the worst impacts of climate change, and protect ourselves from changes in the international energy market.

This project is about giving communities the opportunity to shape if, how and where a community-led renewables project could happen in their area, and understand how it could benefit local people.

This page tells you more about different types of renewable energy, and why wind turbines and solar farms are part of the solution, alongside rooftop solar panels.

Wind turbines

Wind turbines use the movement of the wind to make electricity.

When wind moves over the blades, they spin a turbine that creates an electric current.

Wind turbines can be small (100 meters tall and power about 170 homes) or large (160 meters tall and power over 700 homes).

Solar farms

Solar panels (also called solar photovoltaic panels or solar PV) turn sunlight into electricity using chemical reactions in silicon. A solar farm is a group of ground-based solar panels. A solar farm the size of a football pitch would power around 51 homes.

But what about rooftop solar panels?

Rooftop solar panels

Although rooftop solar will also be an important part of future energy sources it won't meet 100% of a home's energy demand.

We use more energy in winter, when it's less sunny and electricity at night when the sun isn't shining.

This means on average, rooftop solar provides around 40% of a household's electricity use over a year, but this depends on location and energy use.

We'll also be needing more electricity in the future to power electric vehicles and heat pumps.

This is why we focus on solar farms in our workshops.