Wind Energy Breaks Records And Gains
Support In UK
The UK wind industry is booming,
according to latest figures and
surveys which show that not only
was January another bumper month
for the industry, but it is also getting
increased public support.
The UK’s renewable energy trade
body, RenewableUK, provided details
on two separate announcements
this past week,starting with new
figures from National Grid for
January, which showed that wind
energy broke new records for weekly,
monthly, and half-hourly generation.
According to figures from National
Grid, January was the UK’s most
productive month ever for wind
energy, generating 4.13 terawatt hours,
or 14% of Britain’s electricity —
that’s enough to power the equivalent
of 8.7 million UK homes.
January also saw the breaking of
the weekly record, with 1,119 GWh
generated, and half-hourly records
on the 2nd of January, when wind
energy supplied 31% of the country’s
electricity demand.
“The past few months have seen
significantly high levels of generation
for wind energy and January was no
exception,” said RenewableUK’s
Director of External Affairs, Jennifer
Webber. “It’s great to see wind
making such a positive contribution to
Britain’s clean energy needs at a cold
time of year when we need it most,
and this can only continue with greater
capacity coming online – reaching 12
gigawatts is an achievement which the
industry and the nation can be proud
of.”
A day later, a new survey released by
the UK’s Department of Energy and
Climate Change showed that support
for onshore wind farms had increased
to 68% of the public, while total
opposition dropped to its lowest level
of 10%.
The survey also showed that support
for offshore wind remained solid at
74%, as well as an increase in support
for the country’s wave and tidal
energy industry, which crept up to
74% as well.
Thankfully, public support for
fracking dropped to 24%.
“It’s great to see public support for
onshore wind is increasing, with more
than two-thirds of people consistently
saying they want Britain to make use
of it, and that support for offshore
wind and wave & tidal energy remains
even higher,” said RenewableUK’s
Director of Policy, Dr Gordon Edge.
“That’s why it’s so hard to understand
why the Conservative party is turning
its back on onshore wind, threatening
to kill off the industry if it wins the
next election. Independent polls show
that David Cameron is totally wrong
to claim that people are “fed up with”
onshore wind – they show the reverse
is actually true, and that being antiwind is a net vote loser.”
And it’s a big issue, as
RenewableUK’s Chief Executive,
Maria McCaffery, discussed in
a recent piece she wrote
for BusinessGreen.
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