The RenSMART Star Rating gives a quick guide to the availability of renewable energy at a location. Every UK location has been given a rating from 0 to 5 stars. The number of stars is based on the renewable energy available at a site compared with the distribution of renewable energy across the UK.

We took information for 900 thousand points across the UK to generate a distribution graph of wind speeds and solar energy across the UK.

We converted the average wind speeds to the renewable energy potential using Betz' Law

The locations were rated with 1 star going to the poorest 10% of locations and 5 stars going to the best 10% of locations.

Other star ratings were allocated based on the percentage of locations with a similar renewable energy potential.

The area element of the wind energy value is based on the area swept by the wind turbines blades.

Star RatingAverage Solar Energy per day kWh per m2Average Wind Energy per day kWh
5 More than 3.22 More that 7.1 Top 10%
4 3.13 6.2 Top 25-10%
3 2.98 5.2 UK Average
2 2.81 4.7 Bottom 10-25%
1 2.71 3.9 Bottom 10%