25 Years Later: The offshore wind pioneer who helped start it all

This year marks a major milestone for the UK’s energy transition: 25 years since the country’s very first offshore wind turbines were installed off the coast of Blyth. What began as a small, pioneering demonstration project has since grown into one of the UK’s greatest industrial success stories — an engine for clean power, innovation and green jobs.

To celebrate this anniversary, we spoke with someone who was there at the very beginning. Vaughan Weighill worked on the Blyth project back in 2000 and has spent much of the past quarter-century shaping some of the UK’s most significant offshore wind developments. From the early days of experimenting with untested technology to helping deliver large-scale projects like Rampion and now supporting the next generation of developments, Vaughan offers a unique perspective on just how far the sector has come — and where it’s heading next.

Then and Now:

Two workers in safety jackets pose on a construction site with cranes and equipment in the background.

A person in a suit stands in front of a modern building featuring digital advertising for offshore wind farm initiatives.

In this special Q&A, Vaughan reflects on the early challenges, the moment the industry truly “clicked,” the lessons learned along the way and the huge opportunities that lie ahead for offshore wind’s next 25 years.

1. You worked on the UK’s first offshore wind farm at Blyth. What do you remember most about that project?

Not only was Blyth the first offshore wind project in the UK, it was my first role in wind farm development of any kind. The project was pioneering and it was really exciting to be part of it. The set-up was a four-way joint venture between Powergen, Shell, Nuon and Amec, which brought a good mix of expertise and experience from the existing onshore wind sector, offshore oil and gas, and large scale civil engineering.

I was involved in some of the key contracts including procuring the wind turbines, securing seabed leases and a grid connection, so a broad introduction to some of the challenges of a new sector.
2. What first drew you to offshore wind as a career back in the late 1990s?

I started my career with Powergen based at a coal-fired power station site (Ratcliffe), but the company was also involved in early onshore wind power projects and then became a partner in the Blyth project. I was really interested in the potential of wind energy, so when a job vacancy became available to join a small team of half a dozen people working on wind power including the Blyth project, I leapt at the opportunity.
3. Did you have any sense at the time that Blyth would spark a whole new UK industry?

Looking back, Blyth was the tiny seed – just 2 turbines, less than 4 megawatts and only a kilometre or so offshore – which was planted and led to the growth of a huge industry it is now. I was convinced this would be a huge growth area particularly with the emerging talk of climate change and the need to reduce fossil fuel use, coupled with the potential to deliver much larger projects offshore compared to onshore.
4. What were the biggest challenges of building an offshore wind farm in those early days?

There wasn’t really a template or standard practice for developing, constructing or operating offshore wind. There was no standardised Crown Estate seabed leasing, no suitable consenting framework, no power offtake to reflect higher cost/risk. A lot of the technology we take for granted now, like self-powered jack-up barges, simply hadn’t been invented yet.

Blyth proved the concept, which led to the first official round of seabed leasing by The Crown Estate, which then delivered at a more commercial scale, with subsequent rounds pushing the boundaries ever more.
5. Are there any stories from the Blyth build that still make you smile—or shake your head—25 years later?

I recall going out onto the vessel and being struck with the awesome scale of the engineering. In retrospect the Blyth turbines were fairly quaint, at less than 100m tip height compared to modern units in excess of 3 times that, and approaching 10 times the power output. But at the time we kept impressing people with the statistic that the rotors were as big as the wingspan of a 747 jumbo jet!
6. What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in the industry over the past 25 years?

Back in the beginning the focus was on demonstrating technical feasibility, and some people doubted if, or how, effectively it could be scaled up into a commercial reality. The seabed licencing, consenting and regulatory frameworks didn’t exist. The policy and supporting frameworks needed to be created and refined through industry collaboration with the government and The Crown Estate to deliver success. Over the years the UK has made huge strides with each subsequent offshore round, and the financial support mechanisms, firstly the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation, superseded by the Renewables Obligation then the Contracts for Difference mechanisms which were needed to build scale and momentum, ultimately making offshore wind a competitive source of clean power generation.
7. Is there a standout moment or project from your career that you’re especially proud of?

I was really pleased to lead the development of the Rampion project off the Sussex coast and then follow the project through construction as part of the senior leadership team. Being involved in the full process of taking a project from the ‘drawing board’ right through consents, Financial Investment Decision and then through construction to commercial operations, was very rewarding in terms of seeing the end results of 7 or 8 years of hard work come to fruition.

Rampion involved a number of unique challenges, due to its location off a highly populated coastline, proximity to the South Downs National Park and a very busy stretch of sea in terms of commercial and recreational sea users. As well as delivering a successful project within programme and budget, it was particularly satisfying that we managed to engage and build some really positive local stakeholder relationships despite these challenges.
8. What has kept you in offshore wind for a quarter of a century?

Well, a small confession: after Blyth I did a few years of onshore wind development in Scotland, so not quite the full quarter century! In 2008 I returned to a burgeoning offshore sector, working as a development lead on Humber Gateway then subsequently Rampion, Rampion 2, a secondment looking at Floating wind supply chain and skills and currently in a commercial role on the Norfolk Vanguard and Boreas projects. Each project has been unique, bringing its own challenges, new people in the team, new stakeholders and each subsequent one has pushed the boundaries more as to what is possible.
9. What’s the biggest lesson the industry has taught you?

Every big journey starts with a single step. The offshore wind industry has faced many technical, commercial and regulatory challenges along the way from its inception but has shown incredible tenacity, perseverance and ingenuity to become the vibrant success story it is today. Collaboration and ensuring lessons are learnt at each stage have been key to the sector’s growth. I think all these qualities the industry has demonstrated translate to the personal level as well: keep focussed on the goal, when things don’t work as planned try another approach, collaborate with others who bring something new to the picture, ensure that any setbacks are turned into learning opportunities.
10. Looking ahead, what part of offshore wind’s future excites you the most?

I think the next steps are proving that floating wind can be commercialised which would then open up huge new areas of sea where generation could be located. There needs to be convergence to an optimal concept from hundreds of different ideas, that can be fabricated economically and at large scale and volume. It feels like floating offshore wind is at a similar stage of maturity to where fixed offshore wind was after Blyth, which had given the impetus for The Crown Estate’s first formal round of seabed leasing.

Also expanding into different route to market models, such as generating hydrogen fuel, which would ‘untether’ schemes from the grid and open up many more opportunities.

25 Years Later: The offshore wind pioneer who helped start it all

Then and Now:

1. You worked on the UK’s first offshore wind farm at Blyth. What do you remember most about that project?

2. What first drew you to offshore wind as a career back in the late 1990s?

3. Did you have any sense at the time that Blyth would spark a whole new UK industry?

4. What were the biggest challenges of building an offshore wind farm in those early days?

5. Are there any stories from the Blyth build that still make you smile—or shake your head—25 years later?

6. What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in the industry over the past 25 years?

7. Is there a standout moment or project from your career that you’re especially proud of?

8. What has kept you in offshore wind for a quarter of a century?

9. What’s the biggest lesson the industry has taught you?

10. Looking ahead, what part of offshore wind’s future excites you the most?

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