Power from the Far North - How Caithness Wind Will Keep Thames Water Running to 2030

10th January 2026

From the windswept moors of Caithness, at the very top of mainland Britain, electricity will flow south to keep taps running in London and the South East.

In an era of volatile energy prices and fragile infrastructure, Thames Water's long-term deal to buy wind power from RWE's Camster wind farm is a quietly significant reminder of how deeply the UK’s essential services are now tied to the Highlands.

Under a five-year power purchase agreement (PPA) running to 2030, Thames Water will receive around 132 gigawatt hours of electricity a year from the Camster onshore wind farm, near Lybster in Caithness. That is enough to meet around 15% of the utility’s essential operational electricity demand, powering water treatment works, pumping stations and wastewater facilities serving roughly 16 million customers.

Camster itself is no newcomer. Operational since 2012, the wind farm consists of 25 turbines with a total capacity of about 50 megawatts, taking advantage of one of the most reliable wind resources in Europe. What the deal does is lock that northern wind into the daily functioning of one of the UK’s most critical — and energy-hungry — pieces of infrastructure.

For Thames Water, the agreement is about more than green credentials. Energy is one of its largest operating costs, and long-term PPAs offer price stability at a time when wholesale electricity markets remain unpredictable. By fixing a portion of its supply from a known renewable source, the company reduces exposure to market shocks while continuing its push to run operations on 100% renewable electricity, combining self-generation with contracted wind and other clean power.

The scale matters too. Thames Water already generates a substantial amount of energy itself, mainly from sewage sludge and other by-products, but demand still far exceeds what it can produce in-house. The Caithness wind deal helps close that gap with a predictable, low-carbon supply that can be planned around — something spot-market purchases cannot offer.

For RWE, the arrangement underscores the growing importance of corporate customers in financing and stabilising renewable generation. Long-term contracts with large, creditworthy buyers like Thames Water provide dependable revenue streams, helping justify continued investment in wind assets across the UK. In effect, consumers in the South East are indirectly underwriting renewable generation in the far north.

There is also a broader, symbolic dimension. Water and energy are increasingly intertwined challenges, and this agreement links two of the country’s most pressing infrastructure systems through geography as well as policy. Clean power generated in Caithness will help reduce the carbon footprint of water services hundreds of miles away, illustrating how the energy transition is knitting together regions with very different economies and landscapes.

In a UK often divided by geography, the deal is a reminder that national resilience now depends on long-distance connections — from Highland wind farms to metropolitan water networks.

As Thames Water looks ahead to the end of the decade, a significant part of its operational heartbeat will be driven by the persistent winds of Caithness, turning one of Britain’s most remote regions into a quiet backbone of everyday life far to the south.