New official statistics from UK’s National Grid show that 2015 was a record year for wind energy generation, with onshore and offshore wind farms supplying their largest ever amounts of clean electricity to Britain’s homes, factories and offices, according to RenewableUK.
Overall, 11% of the UK’s electricity was generated by wind last year – up from 9.5% in 2014.
Wind provided enough electricity to meet the annual needs of more than 8.25 million homes – more than 30% of UK households – up from 6.7 million homes last year.
December 2015 saw a fresh monthly record set, with wind suppling 17% of Britain’s electricity demand at a time of the year when it’s needed most. The previous monthly record of 14% was set in January 2015 – another cold period of the year.
A new weekly record was also set in December, with wind providing 20% of the nation’s needs in the last week of the month – Christmas week – up from 19% in the second week of November.
Wind also broke the quarterly generation record in the three month period from October to December 2015, with 13% of the nation’s electricity demand met by wind – beating the previous 12% high in the first quarter of 2015.
“This is a great way to start the new year – the wind industry can be proud that it has shattered weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual generation records in 2015. This re-writes the record books. We’ve had a bumper harvest thanks to increased deployment and superb wind speeds,” RenewableUK’s Director of Policy Dr Gordon Edge said.
“It also demonstrates why the Government should continue to support wind energy, as we’re delivering on our commitment to keep Britain powered up. We can continue to increase the proportion of the nation’s electricity which we provide as we move away from fossil fuels to clean sources of power.”