http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2016/aug/wind-turbines-scotland-electricity-production.cfm
[Another national grid reaches 100% supply from renewables, and does not
collapse or explode, but another myth gets busted - again.
links in on-line article]
Wind turbines briefly covered all of Scotland’s electricity needs
11 August 2016
By Jack Loughran
Scotland's demand for electricity was entirely met by wind power during
a period of high winds on Sunday.
The Met Office issued a yellow ‘be aware’ weather warning covering much
of the country as wind speeds reached 115mph on the top of the
Cairngorms and gusts of more than 60mph hit towns in the north.
The weather brought travel disruption, with some bridges closed, ferries
cancelled and trains affected, but helped boost the country's renewable
energy production.
Environmental group WWF Scotland said an analysis of data by
WeatherEnergy shows wind turbines in Scotland generated power equivalent
to more than cover the entire country's electricity needs.
Scottish turbines provided 39,545 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity to
the National Grid on Sunday while the country's total power consumption
for homes, business and industry was 37,202 MWh, which means wind power
generated 106 per cent of its electricity needs.
This level of generation is good news for Scotland which closed its last
coal power station, Longannet, in March. In addition, it may placate
concerns by energy experts that say Britain as a whole will struggle to
keep lights on in coming years as facilities come offline and are not
replaced.
WWF Scotland director Lang Banks urged the Scottish government to set a
goal of securing half of all of its energy from renewables by 2030 at a
forthcoming energy strategy meeting.
"While Sunday's weather caused disruption for many people, it also
proved to be a good day for wind power output, with wind turbines alone
providing the equivalent of all Scotland's total electricity needs,” he
said.
"This major moment was made possible thanks in part to many years of
political support, which means that across the year now renewables
contribute well over half of our electricity needs.
"However, if we want to ensure we reap the many benefits of becoming a
low carbon economy, we need to see this political support for renewables
continue.”
Harsh weather conditions in Scotland last winter boosted wind power
output by almost 40 per cent.
However, in June the GMB union was keen to point out that this level of
variation caused uncertainty on the National Grid meaning that backup
power plants using more stable forms of electricity production would
always be needed.
GMB said there were over six weeks of low wind days since the start of
June 2015 when wind only supplied 10 per cent or less of the electricity
capacity to the grid.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Scotland's abundant energy
resources play a vital role in delivering security of electricity supply
across the UK. The Scottish government is committed to supporting
onshore wind, which is one of our most cost-effective low carbon energy
technologies.
"We remain fully supportive of low-carbon technologies, which offer a
huge economic opportunity for Scotland and have a key role to play in
our fight against the threat posed by climate change to our society and
natural environment.
"We have a clear policy for an energy mix to provide energy security for
the future and will set out our ambitions for an integrated approach to
low carbon technologies within our draft energy strategy later this
year. This will include exploring the option of setting a new renewable
energy target."
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