Yesterday, for the first time, the UK generated more than 20GW of electricity from wind alone.
At least four times in October, wind was the majority of the UK’s electrical power mix, just in time to cut ties from natural gas. Even better, on Nov 3, wind surpassed 20GW for the first time.
The North Atlantic above Scotland is notorious for its relatively constant, strong winds. And, on November 3, they really came through. Great Britain’s National Grid ESO tweeted on Nov 3 that wind was 54.9% of Great Britain’s energy mix followed by gas at 20.6% and nuclear at 14.1%. While it may be true that gas was back in the lead at 39.5% by the next day, this is still a serious peek into the carbon neutral future and proves, at a minimum, that it’s possible! When you add in nuclear, hydro, solar, and storage, then low-carbon energy accounted for fully 70% of the total mix that day.
In fact, the National Grid ESO’s Twitter account shows that wind represented the majority of the electrical power mix for at least four days in October, in addition to this 20GW day in November. No doubt, with the cost of gas in Europe getting higher, we should see this tilt towards renewables accelerate. Blow, wind, blow!
