By Paul Homewood
https://twitter.com/BBC_Joe_Lynam/status/948180483912937472
It’s been a pretty windy week here, so unsurprisingly supporters of renewable energy have jumped on the increase in wind generation.
As a “Business Journalist”, Joe Lynam should know that it is the bigger picture that counts.
Last month wind power averaged 5356 MW, or 14.6% of the UK total generation. This is close to the annual average.
But because demand is much higher during winter, coal power has been called upon to top up. All in all, coal supplied 4998 MW, almost as much as wind.
And as Gridwatch shows, wind power was highly volatile during the month, ranging from as low as 933 MW to 9629 MW.
For 49.6% of the month, wind power was below average.
And for 17.5% of the time, it was supplying less than half of that average.
Of course, what is good news for the BBC and wind farms is bad news for the public. The more wind power is produced, the greater are the subsidies handed out to wind farm operators.
In just that single day, electricity consumers have had to pay £9.8 million in subsidies.
On top of that, wind farm operators are paid to switch off when there is too much wind power about. Last year, according to REF figures, this cost consumers an extra £108 million.
But don’t expect the BBC to tell you any of that!
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
January 3, 2018 at 06:36AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 