• frazorth@feddit.uk
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    9 days ago

    The plans come as low wind and solar power generation forced Britain to rely heavily on burning gas and wood pellets. As of Thursday, about 65% of Britain’s electricity was being generated from gas and biomass, with only 5.3% coming from wind.

    Is that because although we have built “a lot” its still not much, or has wind just generally been down and we should be over-provisioning to make up for these times?

    I thought that we’ve had a lot of wind recently, at least around here or is this a manipulation of stats because last Thursday was a low day and it helps set a narrative?

    I tried to follow the link but it was shit on mobile.

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      9 days ago

      Renewables are pretty good.Today wind is doing 44% of the country’s requirements.

      https://gridwatch.co.uk/

      You can also see on the graph for the month there that there was like 3 days without a lot of wind. It happens.

      I guess what we’re all really after is a cheap and simple way of storing excess renewable energy when we’re making a lot of it, and then use it on days when we’re not. Pumped storage and batteries and things often get bandied around, but they’re not cheap and noboody really wants to invest in things that could be worthless when gas is cheap.

      Gas is convenient and we still need it throughout the year anyway. You can turn it up easily to meet demand. I don’t think it’s a massive issue that we have a few days here and there where we need to crank it up.