"The presenter trumpeted that there is now 10GW of wind power. I checked gridwatch - just now we are getting 1.5GW from wind."
That fits pretty well with
"on average, wind turbines only produce about 15 - 20% of their capacity because of wind variability"
Quote from somewhere I can't remember.
It means, for instance, that that big turbine by the side of M4 at Reading received £130,000 subsidy in 2011 and produced £100,000 worth of electricity!
Ones out at sea tend to be more "efficient"
Here's another daft thing.
Because of the Climate Change Act and our increased use of "renewables" we might get "blackouts" this winter - we might no longer have enough conventional power to cover a really cold spell caused by high pressure system when there is little wind.
The Gov's solution is to encourage hospitals/large companies to have their own diesel generators to supply themselves with power when "the lights go out".
These generators, of course, pump out far more "Carbon pollution"* than conventional power
stations!
* It's not Carbon, it's Carbon dioxide.
It's not "pollution" - it's a harmless gas which enables plants to live.
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