More than half of Great Britain’s daily electricity came from wind turbines for the first time on Boxing Day, as the country headed for its “greenest year on record”.
Storm Bella with gusts of up to 100mph on Boxing Day, allowed wind turbines to generate 50.7% of Great Britain’s electricity according to data charting the power generation mix.
“Britain has experienced a renewables revolution over the last decade with the growth of biomass, wind and solar power,” said Drax Electric Insights, part of coal and biomass power company Drax, which tracks the data.
Gas and coal power plants made up 36% of the electricity generated in England, Scotland and Wales in the year up to 21 December 2020, according to data from National Grid’s electricity system operator (NGESO), down from 46% in 2019; with wind and solar farms delivering 29% of the electricity mix.
It should be noted this is for electricity only; and for example a third of our energy is used for transport which is almost totally oil based. Improvements is Solar Cell Technology, Storage Batteries etc are gathering pace and will provide benefits in years to come.
As many of the wind farms are off shore it is often difficult to appreciate their scale. The Dogger Bank Wind Farm will be powered by 190 Haliade-X 13 MW turbines (Pictured) supplied by General Electric Renewable Energy. A single turbine can provide enough clean energy to power 16,000 British households and save the equivalent of 9,000 vehicles’ emissions in a year. Each blade is 107 meters (351 feet) long. To put that in perspective, the wingspan of a Boeing 747-800 is a mere 68.4 meters. A building 351 feet tall would have at least 35 stories. The Observer published an article on this development 3-1-2020
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