THIS IS NO APRIL FOOL
posted 1st April 2022
Despite the UK government seeming to think the UK can be "the Saudi Arabia of wind power" this last month has shown how ridiculous this message is.
In 2008 there were 2,180 wind turbines in and around the UK, at the beginning of Mar2022 there are 11,091. With all these extra wind turbines, wind is only producing 0.7% of demand on 28Mar2022.
Fig 1 example of electricity generation on 28Mar2022
Wind power generation at 0730 on 28Mar2022 was a mere 0.7% of demand with CCGT at 69.9% and coal (necessary to balance the grid) at 4.5%
Fig 2 Example of electricity generation past day, past week, past month and past year from 28Mar2022
With all of these 11,091 turbines over the past year have only been able to generate 25% of electricity demand.
Considering every wind turbine needs 9 mph or more to become effective. Here is the UK daily average for the last 23 years, wind speeds (MPH) for maximum, minimum and mean for each month
Fig 3 UK daily average wind speeds (max, min, mean) for the last 23 years
For 6 months of the year (April to September) mean wind speeds do not reach the required cut-in speed of 9 mph.
On a daily basis wind normally increases (greater temperature differential) diurnally and decreases (less temperature differential) nocturnally. Of course, it also depends on the airmass and the atmospheric pressure. All of these factors are embedded in the above table.
The UK will never be the "Saudi Arabia" of wind generated electricity