Wind taken out of wind farms
Engineering consultant Jim Oswald has told BBC Radio 4 that variability in Britain’s wind speeds could lead to major power failures in the future if UK wind farm systems were not redesigned. He said that many turbines were underperforming because wind speeds in Britain were too unreliable.
"The volatility thing is a bit like driving your car and I say to you, 'OK, here's a green car, it uses absolutely no fossil fuel but you can only use it when it's windy," Mr Oswald said.
"It's the power swings that worry us. Over a 20-hour period you can go from almost 100% wind output to 20%."
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Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks insisted that wind energy was an important part of Britain's energy mix for the future. He said the government was encouraging more offshore wind farms combined with tidal and marine power plants.
Wind power is Britain's fastest growing source of renewable energy, but still only meets less than 0.5% of our electricity needs.
[via BBC News]
