Britain's onshore and offshore wind turbines set yet anothe generation record on 10 January, National Grid ESO confirms
Blustery conditions across Britain have sent yet more renewable power records tumbling this week, with onshore and offshore wind farms collectively delivering an all-time high of 21.6GW of power to the grid on Tuesday evening, National Grid ESO confirmed yesterday.
Britain's grid operator said the new record was set during a half hour period from 6pm on 10 January, when wind power provided just over half - 50.4 per cent - of the UK's electricity needs.
It smashed the previous record set just 11 days earlier on 30 December, when Britain's onshore and offshore wind turbines collectively generated 20.9GW of power, which itself marked the third time the record was broken last year.
Throughout Tuesday overall, low carbon power sources provided 77 per cent of Britain's electricity needs, with 53.7 per cent from wind turbines, 15.3 per cent from nuclear plants, 5.2 per cent from biomass, just under three per cent from hydroelectricity facilities, and 0.2 per cent from solar, according to National Grid ESO.
Gas power plants, meanwhile, made up 11.2 per cent of Britain's electricity mix that day, with the remained coming from coal on 1.8 per cent and imports on 9.8 per cent.
Yesterday #wind produced 53.7% of GB electricity followed by nuclear 15.3%, gas 11.2%, imports 9.8%, biomass 5.2%, hydro 2.9%, coal 1.8%, solar 0.2%, other 0.0% *excl. non-renewable distributed generation pic.twitter.com/Tw61WouiQw
— National Grid ESO (@NationalGridESO) January 11, 2023
Trade body RenewableUK hailed the latest wind power record as positive news for Britain's energy security and net zero ambitions, as well as for households and businesses facing rising energy bills thanks to soaring global fossil gas prices over the past year.
The trade body's CEO Dan McGrail pointed out that Britain's wind turbines and other low carbon power sources had together produced 82.5 per cent of the UK's electricity over the fortnight between 27 December last year to 9 January 2023. That cut Britain's gas power demand by 1.31 billion cubic meters over the period, which would have cost the country £2.1bn, he said.
"Throughout this blustery winter, wind is taking a leading role as our major power source, setting new records time and time again," he said. "This is good news for billpayers and businesses, as wind is our cheapest source of new power and reduces the UK's use of expensive fossil fuels which are driving up energy bills. With public support for renewables also hitting new record highs, it's clear we should be trying to maximise new investment in renewables to increase our energy security."
* This article was originally published here
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