November Sees New Record for UK Wind Power

For those living in the UK, did you feel the earth move at 3 pm on 6 November? No? Or maybe a slightly sweet smell of success on the breeze? Well despite the UK coalition Government’s appearance of blowing hot and cold on windpower beyond 2020, the facts are that a new record for the maximum output from wind generation has been achieved this month according to the UK’s National Grid.

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At 3 pm on 6 November, the wind gods were in alignment it seems,  because the half-hourly average for metered wind generation hit 4199 MW. This represented 9.3% of the total demand at the time. This was a new record for the UK, compared to the previous half-hourly record of 4157 MW at 7 pm on the 12th of September 2012. The National Grid’s Wind Power Forecasting System, the forecast 24 hours ahead of real-time, predicted only 4055MW. But the wind blew harder, the blades turned more quickly and the power soared.

 

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Alan Smart, Energy Operations Manager, at National Grid said,

“The forecasting performance was excellent. Our wind forecasting tool is under continuous development and we have done a lot of work to improve our forecasts on high wind days.  As more wind generation is connected to the system, this tool will become increasingly important in helping us manage the electricity system.”

A spokesperson for Scottish Renewables said:

“These figures from National Grid confirm what many of us have known for some time; that onshore wind is making a significant contribution to meeting our electricity demands, is a reliable renewable resource and can be forecast with accuracy by those responsible for managing our electricity grid. Onshore wind is now a significant part of Scotland’s energy mix and is responsible for thousands of jobs as well as providing the basis for billions of pounds of investment in both electricity infrastructure and other promising renewable energy technologies.”

 

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UK National Grid Control Room

 

This latest record shows that onshore windfarms work and that suitable sites should continue to be developed to harness this carbon-free naturally occurring resource. The latest figures also show some 35 percent of Scotland’s electricity needs were met by renewables, with the onshore wind making up the majority of this generation. Expect the record just set to be broken again before the end of the new year.

 

The recently unveiled UK Energy Bill, despite disappointing some renewable advocates, is still a step in the right direction, even though no carbon-reduction targets 2020-2030 have been set.  However one of the areas that the Energy Bill fails to address, is the need to factor in the reduction in demand for energy. The UK is planning for a two-thirds increase in demand for power to 2050, whereas Germany is planning for a 25% reduction.  Power economy does not seem to feature highly on the UK agenda- this is why the UK is having to look to nuclear power for a solution instead of concentrating on a day when the UK’s abundance in wind power resources could be harnessed to provide the majority of the UK’s power needs.