New record for wind-powered electricity in Britain
A new wind record has been set for Britain, with enough electricity generated from turbines to power 22 million homes, the system operator has said.
The mark of 22,711 megawatts (MW) was set at 7.30pm on 11 November, beating the previous high for wind power generation of 22,253 MW set on 18 December last year.
At the time, wind was providing 43.6% of Britain’s electricity, enough to keep around three-quarters of British homes powered, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) said.
The country had experienced windy conditions, particularly in the north of England and Scotland.
Neso said gas at the time was providing 12.5% of generation, while 12.1% came from “embedded wind”, which supplies power directly to local distribution networks rather than the high-voltage transmission network.
Also, 11.3% came from interconnectors with other countries, 8% from nuclear, 8% from biomass, 1.4% from hydro, and 1.1% from storage.
Neso has predicted that Britain could hit another milestone in the months ahead by running the electricity grid for a period entirely with zero carbon power, renewables and nuclear.
Kayte O’Neill, chief operating officer at Neso, said the record showed that “our national grid can run safely and securely on large quantities of renewables generated right here in Britain”.
She went on to say: “I look forward to seeing if we can hit another clean energy milestone in the months ahead: running Britain’s electricity grid entirely zero carbon.”
Neso said wind power is now the largest source of electricity generation for the UK, and the government wants to generate almost all of the UK’s electricity from low-carbon sources by 2030.
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Industry body RenewableUK’s deputy chief executive, Jane Cooper, urged the government to go further by increasing the amount of capacity they will support in the next round of auctions.
This is where contracts are handed out for new wind farms to receive an agreed price for the power they generate.
Government support is seen as crucial in auctions as it sets the maximum price generators can receive for electricity, which can determine the commercial feasibility of projects.
