Drop in wind-farm output due to calm weather 'extremely rare'
19 July 2010
The reduced level of power produced by Scotland's wind-farm network this year is not a reason to hit the panic button, WWF Scotland said today.
Research carried out for the first five months of this year showed showed the unusually calm weather conditions had led to output being less than expected in a normal year.
Dr Richard Dixon, Director of WWF Scotland said:
"It was a quite unusual period weather-wise so it's not a great surprise that in that period they weren't producing what we would normally expect. Denmark gets 20 per cent of its electricity from wind farms, and does not have difficulty maintaining supply.
"It is hardly a surprise that wind power is variable. However, no one is seriously suggesting that Scotland should rely solely on wind-power. Increased capacity to store energy alongside a mix of renewables types is what we need: some intermittent like wind, some utterly predictable like tides and some on-demand like hydro and biomass.
"The anti-windfarm brigade have been very selective with the data. Looking at just 4 months of the year tells us very little about the overall performance of Scotland's windfarms, especially since the windiest months are usually in the autumn.
"Last year WWF Scotland along with other NGO's produced a report which shows that there is enormous potential to increase generation of electricity from a mix of renewable sources during the next two decades, so much so that by 2030 renewable energy can meet between 60 per cent and 143 per cent of Scotland’s projected annual electricity demand."
