British Wind Energy Association

The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) is the trade and professional body for the wind power and marine renewable energy industries in the United Kingdom, and the UK's leading renewable energy trade association.

Originally founded in 1978 to promote wind power in the United Kingdom, in 2004 the British Wind Energy Association expanded its mission to champion wave and tidal energy and use the Association's experience to guide these technologies along the same path to commercialisation.

BWEA espouses the view that wind can provide for 8% of the UK's energy mix by 2010.

The primary purpose of the BWEA is to promote the use of wind power in and around the UK, both onshore and offshore. The association works to co-ordinate statistics and intelligence on wind power and marine renewables in the UK, and represents industry at home and abroad, to Government, regional bodies and to local authorities in the UK. They also act as a central point for information for members, and also carry out research and find solutions to current issues.

Wind energy has now started a major expansion in the UK and will be the single greatest contributor to the UK Government targets for 10% of electricity supplies to be met by renewables by 2010. Onshore wind alone could meet over half of this target, one of the conclusions of BWEA’s analysis of the sector conducted as part of the Government Energy Review.

Wind has been the world's fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue with falling costs of wind energy and the urgent international need to tackle carbon emissions to prevent dangerous global warming.