According to the organisation, between 21 and 22 March wind was generating enough to power the equivalent of nearly 4 out of every 10 UK homes and consistently over 10 percent of Britain’s overall electricity needs.
In addition, a record for one-off generation in a half hour period was created at 1530 on Friday 22 March when 5.296GW of wind was present on the grid, alongside another anticipated 2GW from distributed wind.
Maria McCaffery, chief executive of RenewableUK, said: “What this shows is that wind is a stable and reliable source of power generation on the scale we need, when we need it most. This then counters the idea that wind does not generate power during cold snaps and comes at the same time as reports that the UK has only 36 hours of gas supplies in reserve, and on the day that the wholesale price of gas in the UK reached a seven year high.
“It also serves as a timely reminder of the vulnerability of supply and the price volatility of imported fossil fuels. This power production coupled with Ofgem’s own figures, announced last Thursday, which showed the real cost of wind to households is less than 20p a week is a double triumph of fact over fiction.”