Wind rules the power roost in the UK
S. Himmelstein | May 19, 2023
Source: Drax
According to researchers at Imperial College London, wind turbines provided 32.4% of electricity in the U.K. in the first three months of 2023, overtaking the 31.7% contribution of natural gas-fired power. The data analyzed confirm this is the first time that wind has provided the largest share of power in any quarter in the history of the nation’s electricity grid.
During this period, wind turbines generated 24 TWh of electricity, 3% higher than during the same quarter of 2022; gas-based power output declined by 5%. In addition, almost 42% of electricity was sourced from renewables while fossil fuels supplied 33%. Imported power supplied 12.6% during the first quarter of 2023, while nuclear provided 12.5%, biomass accounted for 5.7%, and solar and coal delivered 2.3% and 1.3%, respectively.
The rise of wind-generated electricity in the U.K. is largely attributed to the development of offshore wind resources, identified as a critical technology in achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. An installed offshore wind capacity of over 13 GW is currently spread across 44 wind farms. National goals call for securing 50 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, of which 5 GW will use floating technology.
Ireland is now getting in on the act, with their auction of offshore development achieving prices of less than ten euro cents per kiloWatt hour last week. Offshore has more constant output than onshore, and there is more wind in winter, so this may match actual energy demands better than constant output nuclear. The engineers on the Irish grid are getting very good at minimising the amount of spinning gas turbines needed to keep the grid stable with big wind outputs, helped by GE and their "condensers", big spinning weights with dynamo/generators attached. Ireland is the Saudi Arabia of wind energy, opening exports to Europe via a cable to France.