Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reduced plans to boost the UK’s crop of onshore wind farms – which generate hundreds of gigawatt-hours of electricity every year in mid and north Wales – in his strategy to ensure the nation’s energy security.

The removal of targets for land-based wind turbines has been criticised by Labour, which had called for a relaxing of the planning regulations around onshore developments before Mr Johnson published his energy strategy last week.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy figures show Ceredigion produced 249 gigawatt-hours of electricity through its 76 onshore wind turbines in 2020. This was up from 216 GWh the year prior and the highest amount generated since 2014, when records began.

Gwynedd produced 14,166 megawatt-hours (the equivalent of 14 gigawatt-hours) of electricity through its 31 onshore wind turbines in 2020. This was up from 12,127 MWh the year prior and the highest since 2014. Among seven recorded renewable energy sources, onshore wind ranked third in the area.

Powys produced 531 gigawatt-hours of electricity through its 119 onshore wind turbines in 2020. This was up from 455 GWh the year prior and the highest since 2014.

Carmarthenshire produced 307 gigawatt-hours of electricity through its 111 onshore wind turbines in 2020. This was up from 284 GWh the year prior.

The Government’s energy strategy aims to boost new nuclear power, offshore wind and hydrogen, but stops short of increasing onshore wind capacity.

Mr Johnson said onshore wind farms are controversial because of their visual impact, saying they “will have a very high bar to clear”, but is targeting 50 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, up from previous commitments of 40.

“Wholesale changes” to planning regulations for onshore wind will not be introduced, the Government said, but it will instead consult with communities who wish to host the infrastructure in return for lower energy bills.

Separate national figures, which cover the latest calendar year, show the UK had 14.5 GW of onshore wind power capacity at the end of 2021, but generated less energy than in 2020 – from 34.7 GWh down to 29 GWh.

It also had 11.3 gigawatts of offshore wind power capacity at the end of 2021, up from 10.4 the year before and more than six times as much as a decade ago.

Offshore wind must more than quadruple by the end of the decade to reach the Government’s target.

Overall, the UK generated 121,000 GWh of renewable energy in 2021.