New figures from the National Grid for October show that wind power smashed more energy generation records, contributing even more to the UK’s clean electricity mix.
Wind energy hit a record high providing a 24% daily share of the UK’s electricity needs on the 20 th October, beating the previous record of 22% set in August. Wind energy’s share of the monthly electricity mix was also 12.3%, which easily beat last October’s share of 8%, and comes very close to the December record of 13%.
The new peak ‘half-hour’ record was also repeatedly broken. At the start of October the record high was 7,920 megawatts. This was broken over a number of days and now stands at an astonishing high of 8,100MW, enough to power 17 million homes at the time of generation.
In addition, the official statistics show that wind power generated more than nuclear for 11 full days over October, with the longest period being between the 17 th – 24 th .
RenewableUK’s Director of External Affairs, Jennifer Webber, said: “These figures shine a light on the full extent of wind’s powerful performance over October; to beat nuclear for seven days straight, and 11 days overall in a month, is unprecedented. We saw August set new records for generation and October has followed hot on its heels”.