Monday, April 16, 2007

Wind turbines 'not reliable' by Tom McGhie

Suppliers of electricity from wind turbines are highly erratic and cast doubts on their reliability as a source of power, official figures reveal.

Just weeks before the Government publishes its energy review White Paper, a research paper by National Grid shows that on some days, even in winter, wind turbines are virtually motionless.

The Government is said to want wind power to supply 20% of energy needs from 2020. Advocates argue that the UK is the world's windiest advanced nation.

But, according to the National Grid, in the period between October 2006 and February 2007 there were 17 days when output from the existing 1,632 windmills was less than ten per cent of capacity.

(Click to read entire article)

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