Repost from NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW IT
MARCH 17, 2022
By Paul Homewood
It is generally claimed that winds in the North Sea and around the British coast are generally much more stable and reliable than inland. “The wind always blows!”
But what is the truth?
The low carbon contract company, which manages the CfD system, provides daily data to all contracted generators. In particular, there are 16 offshore wind projects in their database, providing a good geographical spread. They make up about half of the UK’s total overseas generators:
I analyzed January 2022 data for these and here are the daily results:
Far from being “constant”, we can see that wind energy is very volatile. Daily production ranges from 8322 to 84984 MWh, with a monthly average of 49245 MWh.
There are thirteen days when production is below 45000 MWh, or in other words 10% below average.
There are seven days in the month where it doesn’t reach 25000 MWh. The average in those days was 17000 MWh, which equates to them working at 15% capacity. The worst day, when output was 8322 MWh, offshore wind was operating at only 7% of capacity.
Also keep in mind that this is winter, not summer when you can expect low wind speeds.
We have been promised 40 GW of offshore wind by 2030, but in reality the most we can count on is 3 GW.
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