Start placing serious reliance on wind power and you can safely place your bets on daily disappointment. Such it is in Britain, with month upon month of pitiful performance from its fleet of whirling wonders.
During most of September and into October, Europe’s wind farms were the victims of the Big Calm.
The Wind Gods had the last laugh, with wind power output reduced to a risible trickle across the continent. The Brits were forced to fire up their mothballed coal-fired power plants, and wholesale power prices went through the roof.
Natural forces continued to conspire into November: on 2 and 3 November, wind power output across the UK once again plummeted, delivering a pitiful 5% of its nameplate capacity; wholesale power prices went through the roof, topping out at £4,000/MWh – the price charged by Britain’s two remaining coal-fired power plants for literally saving the day.
As…
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