Bag of wind? – Scotsman letters 8 Oct 2020
Someone has led the Prime Minister to believe that all the UK electricity demand can be met by wind power (“Scotland’s offshore wind success could put it at fore of PM’s green energy plan”, 7 October).
Perhaps, but not reliably and reliability is what is needed for electricity supply. Generation from wind power fails if there is insufficient, or even too much, wind.
Nor is it true that wind power is “cheaper than coal and gas” if you factor in the necessary back-up generation required for times when there is insufficient power from wind. That might require generation from stored electricity, an added cost. No mention of the environmental damage created by wind farms.
Wind generation is also unsuited to base load generation. That would require something weather-independent, like nuclear, which got just one mention in the PM’s speech. So is the government still advocating the continued deployment of nuclear power? It’s actions on the matter so far have not been encouraging.
STEUART CAMPBELL
Dovecot Loan, Edinburgh
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