There is a direct correlation between a lack of wind and cold weather. According to the Met Office, last month was the coldest December since records began a century ago. Last year as a whole was the coldest for 14 years.
On the coldest days of last month, when the need for power was at its greatest, there was virtually no wind, Britain's 3500 wind turbines were largely idle and almost no electricity was generated by them.
At 5.30pm on December 7, which National Grid says was the moment of the fourth-highest demand ever recorded in British history, wind contributed just 0.4 per cent of the country's electricity needs. The generation system coped – but it includes large numbers of old power stations that will soon be closing. In the future, under the far more wind-based system the Government wants to see, such levels of demand could turn out the lights.
"If, as government plans, we place too much reliance on wind, the electricity system will come under considerable stress, with very high prices, and even unscheduled interruptions, blackouts in the layman's terms,"
To avoid power cuts if the Government does go ahead with a mass wind-turbine programme, it will also need to build large numbers of new coal, oil or nuclear power stations for backup when the wind is not blowing. The cost of providing so much duplicate capacity is expected to dramatically increase electricity prices, with potentially serious effects on consumers and the economy.
Taxpayers' support for the wind industry itself would also rise, as private investors nervous about the lack of wind lose interest in the sector. Wind turbine manufacture has recently slumped and factories have been closed as demand has fallen, prompting calls for more public subsidy.
RenewableUK, the industry lobby body, insisted in response to our figures that the amount of electricity produced by wind had risen by a third in the last year and that electricity generated from renewables was at a "historic high." This, however, is because an increase in the number of wind turbines in operation, and not because of an increase in the amount of win
