Do wind turbines need backup?

It is common for opponents of wind power to state that wind turbines need substantial 'back up' plant on the grid for periods when there is no wind. This is far from true, as this new report shows. Main factors necessitating significant reserve plant capacity are: (1) all forms of generation stop sometimes (e.g. unexpected and sudden outages of nuclear plant), and (2) the demand changes, sometimes suddenly (e.g. at the end of televised national sporting events). The reserve in place already is more than sufficient for UK wind power now and in the next 10 years at least.

See also article published in a recent newsletter of the Institute of Physics Energy Group.


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