Britain's wind farms set new generation record after delivering 19.9MW of power

Onshore and offshore wind met more than half of Britain's electricity demand on Wednesday

Britain's fleet of wind turbines generated more electricity than ever before over a 90-minute window earlier this week, according to statistics from the electricity grid operator.

Between 11:30 and noon on Wednesday, Britain's wind farms generated 19.9MW of electricity meeting 52.2 per cent of total demand, the figures from National Grid ESO reveal.

Trade body RenewableUK said the figures marked a new generation record for Britain, although it fell short of the record for wind power's share of the grid which was set at 64 per cent on 29 January this year.

However, wind power supplied 50 per cent of the grid's overall power needs across all of Wednesday.

Dan McGrail, chief executive of RenewableUK, said the figures demonstrated that wind farms were "doing the heavy lifting when it comes to keeping the lights on and reducing our reliance on expensive gas imports".

He added that it was critical that more wind power capacity is built to deliver the UK's energy security and climate goals, while also slashing electricity bills for consumers.

The record comes as calls mount on the new government to take measures that will accelerate the roll out of domestic and wind and solar projects in order to reduce household and business reliance on volatile and expensive international fossil gas markets.

However, it remains unclear whether Rishi Sunak's new adminstration will ease planning barriers for onshore renewables projects.

Speaking earlier this week, the new Prime Minister said the government would stand by the 2019 manifesto commitment to effectively block new onshore wind projects in England, despite his predecessor Liz Truss's plans to lift the de facto ban on new wind farms. Sunak also signalled earlier this summer that he wanted to crack down on new solar farm development.

However, he has stressed his support for continued offshore wind development and the wider net zero transition.

* This article was originally published here