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Britain is in the middle of a wind drought – and the timing couldn’t be worse.
For several days now, the UK and Western Europe have been calm, with barely any wind.
Scotland and the North Sea won’t pick up until Wednesday or even Thursday, where most of us wind farms is
It indicates the energy used in the mixture cooling conditions.
In the past year, wind has generated 28% of our electricity, 42% of gas and 1.6% of coal.
Even as people settled down to work on Monday morning, gas power stations went ahead, producing 61% of our electricity.
Wind was as low as 3.4%, less than the amount generated by coal (3.6%).
This snapshot is unusual, but it shows the limitations of renewable energy in some climates.
Risks may also increase global warming.
Scientists working for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have looked at what wind speed might do in the future.
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Why is it so cold when climate change is making the world warmer?
Big bet on wind
Even if the world were to reach net zero shortly after 2050, winds in the Northern Hemisphere would weaken significantly, limiting the increase in temperature.
It is called global stability. And that’s because of the rapid warming of the Arctic, which is narrowing the temperature difference with the tropics, a gap that drives the wind.
In the UK, average wind speeds are expected to fall by 2% to 3% by 2050 and by 10% by the end of the century.
That’s important because the UK is taking a big bet on wind.
We have 14.2GW of onshore wind turbines, with another 13.7GW offshore.
is the goal of the government Increase offshore capacity 50GW by 2030 and shutdown of gas and coal power stations by 2035.
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However, having turbines does not turn them – as we are now discovering.
Although the government also plans to expand nuclear power to 24GW by 2050, from about 6GW now, it will not fill the gap left by the lack of wind.
We will need to find a way to store large amounts of energy, invest in new sources such as tidal power, or import much more via long-distance cables.
Only then can we ensure that the lights will stay on without fossil fuels.
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