Wind turbines come to standstill across UK, no wind for 7 days-Daily Mail, 6/6/18

6/6/18, “Britain Becalmed: Turbines across the UK are at a STANDSTILL after wind ‘disappears’ for a week causing a two-year low in electricity production,” Daily Mail, Joe Pinkstone

• “Britain got 15 per cent of its power from wind last year – twice as much as coal.  Since the start of June, wind farms have been producing barely any electricity
• The ‘wind drought’ has meant turbines have generated less than two per cent of the country’s power this month”

“Calm conditions in the last seven days have caused wind turbines across the UK to come to a standstill.

The ‘disappearing wind’ has meant turbines have generated less than two per cent of the country’s power this month – the lowest figure for more than two years.

Forecasts show the calm conditions will continue until the middle of the month.

Critics of wind power are likely to point to the current wind shortage as evidence of their unreliability. upporters say improvements in storage technology will allow power generated by wind to smooth out demand.

The Met Office told MailOnline that this period of tranquillity and little power is the result of a series of high-pressure areas over the UK. 

Periods of low wind are common, but it is unusual for it to be this severe and for it to last this long. 

Britain got 15 per cent of its power from wind last year – twice as much as coal. But on Sunday this figure fell to just 1.1 per cent, with only 0.3 gigawatts of energy being produced around 10am. 

The figures were equally as dire on Saturday, with only 2.6 per cent of the day’s electricity coming from wind turbines. In the last three days, the amount of energy produced has hovered between 6.7 per cent and 8.8 per cent.

A spokesperson for the Met Office told MailOnline: ‘The reason winds are light at the moment is because of several high pressure systems over the UK. ‘With a clockwise air current, the weather tends to be much calmer than when it is moving in an anticlockwise direction in a low pressure system. Recently, we have experienced a preponderance of high pressure systems, but it’s not been constant.’

Britain has been trying to lighten its dependence on fossil fuels, and in 2017 wind produced twice as much power as coal….

A drop-off like this in winter could be catastrophic should the UK become reliant upon renewable energy sources. Whilst advances in the storage of energy has meant power can be kept for longer, the process is yet to be perfected.

Earlier this week, Greg Clark, secretary of state for business energy and industrial strategy signalled that the UK will take the next step toward agreeing to help Hitachi Ltd. finance a new nuclear reactor.“…

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