UK wind farms generated a record amount of electricity last Tuesday evening - enough to power over 22 million homes.
According to the National Energy System Operator (Neso), the new record of 22.7 gigawatts was reached at 7.30pm on November 11, topping the previous high of 22.5 gigawatts achieved in December last year.
Wind, at the time, accounted for 55.7% of Britain's energy mix, although, The Times reports, that is not a record in percentage terms.
The rest of the energy mix at the time was made up of:
- Gas - 12.5%
- Imports over subsea power cables - 11.3%
- Nuclear reactors - 8%
- Biomass plants - 8%
- Hydroelectric plants - 1.4%
- Storage - 1.1%
On the record 22.7 gigawatts figure, Neso’s chief operating officer Kayte O’Neill said: “This is a world-beating record, showing that our national grid can run safely and securely on large quantities of renewables generated right here in Britain.
“We’ve come on leaps and bounds in wind generation in recent years. It really shows what is possible and I look forward to seeing if we can hit another clean-energy milestone in the months ahead: running Britain’s electricity grid entirely zero carbon.”
Britain currently has around 32 gigawatts of wind farms in place, with a roughly even split between onshore and offshore.
The government aims to double onshore wind and quadruple offshore wind power by 2030 as part of its plan for clean energy.
FTSE100
The UK's flagship share index, the FTSE 100, was up 18 points at 9,573 shortly after opening this morning.
Brent crude oil futures were up 0.05% at $63.64 a barrel.
Companies reporting:
- Breedon Group - Q3 Trading Statement
- CMC Markets - Half Year Results
- Grainger - Full Year Results
- Halma - Half Year Results
- Investec - Half Year Results
- JD Sports Fashion* - Q3 Trading Statement
- Johnson Matthey - Half Year Results
- LondonMetric Property - Half Year Results
- Mitie Group - Half Year Results
- Partners Group - Q3 Results
- PayPoint - Half Year Results
- Pershing Square Holdings - Q3 Results
- XPS Pensions Group - Half Year Results