Unreliable Electricity Overtakes Coal
By Paul Homewood
Britain generated more of its electricity from renewable sources than from burning coal for the first time in the second quarter of 2015, as more wind and solar farms were built.
A record high of 25.3 per cent of the UK’s power came from wind, solar, biomass and hydro-electric sources in the three months to June, up from just 16.7 per cent in the same period the year before.
By contrast the share of electricity from Britain’s ageing fleet of coal-fired power stations fell to 20.5 per cent, down from 28.2 per cent a year previously.
Not really surprising, given the enormous subsidies thrown at renewables combined with the closure of coal fired plant.
This is the split, according to DECC:
Note that conventional sources are still supplying the vast majority of output.
Of the renewable figure, biomass has generated 9%, and wind 11%.
However, the very real problem, which DECC and the renewable lobbyists don’t point out, is the sheer unreliabilty of wind output. The chart below gives wind generation for the quarter, as recorded at 5-minute intervals:
http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
There are huge variations on a day to day, and even hour to hour, basis. On 8th April, wind power was as low as 65 MW, just 0.2% of demand, while at its maximum on 5th May it reached 6070 MW.
To cover this unreliability, conventional plants need to be kept on standby, and forced off the grid when too much wind power is generated.
According to Maria McCaffery of wind industry body RenewableUK “The new statistics show that Britain is relying increasingly on dependable renewable sources to keep the country powered up, with onshore and offshore wind playing the leading roles in our clean energy mix.”
She obviously does not understand the meaning of “dependable”, but has neatly summed up why our energy policy has become so divorced from reality.
Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours wind is down to an almost irrelevant 3.1% and good old conventional power is supplying nearly all of our power.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
“A record high of 25.3 per cent of the UK’s power came from wind, solar, biomass and hydro-electric sources in the three months to June, ….”
Aided and abetted by the fact that during AMJ UK’s power demand is up to 40% less than during OND & JFM, whilst renewables will be incapable of generating much more than during AMJ.
Note how much was due to the conversion of DRAX from Coal to Wood Chips, along with the other biomass plants.
You only need to monitor the National Grid to see how useless Wind & Solar really are.
Rather than describing wind as “dependable”, they usually describe it as “reliable”. Of course, to be reliable an engineering facility needs to start when wanted and continue to operate at the required rate. To perform those two functions it needs a controllable supply of fuel. By any definition, wind power fails to be dependable or reliable. the only thing you can depend on when it comes to wind is that it won’t be there when you need it most – a cold winter spell.
I prefer the phrase ‘unpredictably intermittent’.
I presume these figures are metered power delivered to the grid, but what I’m interested in is whether the conventional fuels consumed per MWh delivered have increased due to the standby operation and ramping up and down to smooth the erratic wind output – causing more fuel to be burnt than would otherwise be necessary per MWh delivered. I don’t suppose DECC even measure those figures – but if they did would they ever release them?
To my knowledge (and I have asked the question) DECC do not measure these things. They just make the assumption (without any basis) that the effect of back-up operation has a minimal effect on emissions from back-up plant. They dare not examine the increased emissions from back-up operation because they know it would reveal what a fraud the renewable energy scam has been and continues to be and that it has been a huge waste of consumers’ money whilst damaging the countryside and destroying our electricity supply system. I suspect that DECC continues to keep the energy ministers, and politicians in general, in the dark about what has been going on.
Absolutely beyond all belief that DECC are not monitoring the cost of stand-by. This must be politically driven as engineers always look at stand by costs and the old CEGB knew exactly what was needed.
Today is Sunday, and demand is about 34GW during the week peak demand was in excess of 40GW. More to the point though, according to GridWatch data between 04:45 and 06:15 on 23nd September demand rose by almost 8GW and in one 5 minute period demand rose by over 1 GW. It would be interesting to know how renewables would cope with that once all pumped storage was at maximum output. The problem of over production by wind turbines during high wind periods is well known, but I’m more concerned by the inability to crank more out when the wind isn’t blowing, the sun isn’t shining and the tide is at slack water.
There is a saying from the mid-1970s “energy crisis” of that period in the Western U.S. and MidWest U.S. oil producing regions….”Let the Yankee bastards freeze.” This was a period of assault on oil and gas drilling by the North Eastern and Inside the Beltway “illumaniti” and the slogan (above) was a popular automotive bumper sticker in Texas, USA.
Here’s hoping for a new Maunder Minimum….
Here in East Yorkshire the wind turbines have been becalmed for days. Because these things are so highly visible, I don’t think that it is possible to hide the fact that for much of the time they simply don’t work. I would think that even the thickest members of the public can work out the implications of increased dependence on these things.
Note how hydro is included, cos it’s convenient for the spin….usually Greenblob make a big point of never mentioning it and pretending that renewable is only wind/solar …the subsidy monsters.
More than that, have those scientist thought of the fact that, for example, the offshore wind farms could have a role in the warming process? Here’s a an example of what has happened in the Norther Europe: http://oceansgovernclimate.com/baltic-2-another-climate-change-factor/.
The ageing coal fired fleet that would still be the cheapest source of electricity if It wasn’t for taxes. wouldn’t need any bill payer subsidies either….the taxes are crippling these and some older gas staitions to the point of closure.
Last 24 hour.. wind 3.1%, coal 17%
It might have overtaken for a short period…….. but then it blew its engine up.
sounds like a LEMON to me !!!
USELESS. !!!
Is it possible to derive some sort of birds/kWh measure to go along with all the other statistics we have on renewable energy?
Anyone who talks about ‘dependable renewable sources’ is a windbag.