New official figures from National Grid for January show that wind energy in the UK broke new records for weekly, monthly and half-hourly generation. According to the utility, the trend highlights the central role wind now plays in the region's energy mix.
January was the most productive month ever for wind energy, providing 14 per cent of Britain’s electricity (4.13 terawatt hours) - enough to power the equivalent of 8.7 million UK homes. The weekly record was also broken in January with 1.119 gigawatt hours generated, and the half-hourly record was exceeded on 2nd Jan when wind supplied 31% of Britain’s electricity demand.
The news came as overall UK wind capacity (onshore and offshore) topped 12 gigawatts for the first time, a milestone for the country – enough to supply nearly 7 million British households.
“The past few months have seen significantly high levels of generation for wind energy, and January was no exception," said Jennifer Webber,
RenewableUK’s director of external affairs. "It’s great to see wind making such a positive contribution to Britain’s clean energy needs at a cold time of year when we need it most."