Is electricity from the wind reliable?

Is electricity from the wind reliable?

It’s true that wind turbines only operate when the wind blows. However, the UK is the windiest country in Europe so we have a large resource waiting to be used. Less windy countries such as Germany are already meeting more than 10 per cent of their electricity needs from wind.

There is a lot of confusion about the reliability of different sources of electricity. No power stations are able to operate all the time without stopping. Many so-called reliable sources such as nuclear plants must be shut down, often at short notice, for essential safety maintenance. By comparison the variation in output from wind farms distributed around the country is scarcely noticeable. Wind speeds can be reliably predicted too,  which allows other generation to be brought on line.

At present the National Grid can be operated effectively and economically with up to 20 per cent of the electricity capacity being provided by variable energy sources such as wind. At the levels being considered  over the next few decades for wind energy production, such variability can easily be accommodated by the grid system. It is true that we could never rely on wind turbines alone to provide for all our electricity needs. But there are storage technologies we can use, such as pumped storage hydro power schemes, and other innovative solutions such as dynamic demand

With a more flexible generation system wind farms can replace a large portion of our existing nuclear and fossil-fired electricity generation without reducing the overall reliability of our electricity supplies.