RENEWABLEUK issued a press release recently hailing the 22 per cent of UK
electricity production that came from renewables on Sunday, August 17.
Most of this (about 16 per cent) was wind. It claimed this showed “that
wind is a dependable and reliable source of power in every month of year”.
One week later, on Sunday, August 24, renewables produced less than eight
per cent of electricity production, most of which was biofuels, with only
two per cent wind. No-one doubts that turbines can produce large amounts of
electricity when the wind blows. Wind cannot be controlled. It blows when
it blows. It is neither dependable nor reliable. Storage of electricity is
not simple or cheap, and for the foreseeable future is impracticable in the
volumes required by a modern economy.
Scotland has a remarkably unbalanced, politically-driven energy policy. It
is betting the bank on wind, and as a consequence has already begun to rely
on imports from England to keep the lights on when the wind doesn’t blow.
Our electricity system is too important for politicians to gamble with.
Dr Dave Gordon,
60 Bonhard Road,
Scone, Perthshire.
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