News of milestone comes as MPs say policy changes have caused collapse in investment in renewables
Britain’s windfarms provided more electricity than its eight nuclear power stations in the first three months of 2018, marking the first time wind has overtaken nuclear across a quarter.
The renewable energy industry hailed the milestone as a sign the UK was well on its way to an electricity system powered by cheap, domestic green energy.
Across the first quarter, wind power produced 18.8% of electricity, second only to gas, said a report by researchers at Imperial College London.
At one point overnight on 17 March, wind turbines briefly provided almost half of the UK’s electricity.
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The Western Link connection has drastically cut the amount of money paid by National Grid to windfarm owners for that curtailment. The company paid £100m in 2017 for curtailment. This year payments are already down by two-thirds.
Emma Pinchbeck, the executive director at industry group RenewableUK, said: “It is great news for everyone that rather than turning turbines off to manage our ageing grid, the new cable instead will make best use of wind energy.”
News of the quarterly milestone came as MPs said UK emissions targets were threatened by government policy changes, which had caused a collapse in clean energy investment since 2015, including a 56% fall in 2017.
Read more at Wind power overtakes nuclear for first time in UK across a quarter
