{"id":364543,"date":"2025-02-05T10:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T09:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=364543"},"modified":"2025-02-05T10:40:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T09:40:02","slug":"uk-losing-wind-gamble-a-warning-for-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=364543","title":{"rendered":"UK Losing Wind Gamble a Warning for World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Wind turbines assembled at Stord, Norway, under preparation to be sailed to the floating windmill farm, Hywind Scotland Pilot Park, near Peterhead, Scotland.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Vijay Jayaraj<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On a frigid January morning, the fruit of the U.K.\u2019s overreliance on wind energy was reaped when its contribution to the national grid plummeted to a pitiful zero<\/a>. Solar output, meanwhile, was a paltry 1% of power generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This wasn\u2019t just a fluke but rather a stark illustration of the dangers of building an energy system around inherently unreliable sources like wind and solar. The British government\u2019s gamble on wind energy to meet aggressive and unattainable net-zero targets is leading toward an energy crisis of unprecedented proportions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Volatility of Wind Energy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wind power\u2019s appeal has always been its promise of environmentally clean, inexhaustible energy. But real-world experience shows the technology to be damaging to ecosystems and unreliable. Although Earth will always have wind, knowing when and how much is as impossible as the foolish pursuit of controlling the climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the monthly production chart<\/a> from GridWatch demonstrates, wind energy swings wildly from nearly 100% of the output to complete collapse within days or even hours. This winter, as a very cold high-pressure system settled over the U.K., wind turbines went idle just when demand for heating and electricity surged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January\u2019s failure forced the U.K. to rely heavily on gas-fired power plants and electricity imports from the continent. During these periods, the high cost of imported power inflates energy bills that are already among the highest in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British households, on average, pay nearly double the electricity rates of their mostly nuclear-powered French counterparts. This disparity is largely due to British policies that subsidize renewable energy while penalizing more reliable fossil fuel-based generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paying to Stop the Wind<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding insult to injury, the U.K.\u2019s energy policies include a perverse mechanism: compensating wind turbine operators to switch off the machines during periods of high wind. On January 24, Storm Eowyn battered Ireland and Scotland with gusts exceeding 100 miles per hour. Such high winds require some turbines to be idled<\/a> to prevent grid overload and mechanical damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsumers face a triple hit in constraint costs at times of high winds,\u201d says<\/a> Lee Moroney of U.K.\u2019s Renewable Energy Forum. \u201cNot only do they pay for electricity that wind farms predicted they would generate but were instructed not to because of grid congestion, but they also have to pay a bonus to the wind farms for the trouble of reducing output. And they must also pay for the costs of turning up conventional generation (such as gas-fired power stations] to make up the shortfall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.K.\u2019s dwindling domestic gas production and reliance on imports mean that fluctuations in wholesale gas prices hit consumers hard. In 2024, energy bills skyrocketed by 80% compared to 2019 levels, a trend that shows no signs of abating. These costs are exacerbated by government-mandated levies to fund \u201crenewable\u201d energy projects and carbon offset schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The branding of wind energy as a green solution is false advertising in the extreme:<\/p>\n\n\n\n