Wind turbines in Britain produce more electricity than gas for the first time. In the first three months of the year, a third of the UK’s electricity came from wind farms.
According to the BBC, this was shown by research by London’s Imperial College. National Grid, which runs the UK’s distribution network, also confirmed that Britain produced a record amount of solar power in April. Britain has set itself the goal of achieving zero emissions in the production of electricity by 2035.
“There are still many hurdles to achieving a completely fossil fuel-free electricity grid, but the fact that wind in vans has overtaken gas for the first time is a real milestone,” said Imperial College energy expert Iain Staffell, who also co-authored the report.
Most of Britain’s wind power comes from offshore wind farms. The installation of additional onshore wind turbines was effectively banned in England in 2015.
Under the current rules, companies can apply for the construction of onshore wind turbines if they are explicitly mentioned in local government land plans. In December, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak advocated easing those restrictions to speed up development.
Scientists say switching to renewable energy is key to limiting the effects of climate change, which is already being felt in Britain, which last year recorded its warmest year on record.
Solar and wind energy are enjoying significant growth in Britain. In the first quarter of this year, 42 percent of electricity came from renewable energy sources. Fossil fuels such as gas and coal account for 33 percent.
However, billions of pounds worth of green energy projects are costing them due to delays in connecting them to the grid, according to BBC findings. Some solar and wind power plants have been waiting ten to 15 years for this due to a lack of electrical system capacity.
However, electricity only covers 18 percent of Britain’s total energy needs. Many of them cannot be fulfilled by electric energy, for example in heating houses, in production and in transport. Most British households currently use gas for heating and the government is pushing for them to switch to electric heat pumps.
Source: Pravda – Správy by spravy.pravda.sk.
*The article has been translated based on the content of Pravda – Správy by spravy.pravda.sk. If there is any problem regarding the content, copyright, please leave a report below the article. We will try to process as quickly as possible to protect the rights of the author. Thank you very much!
*We just want readers to access information more quickly and easily with other multilingual content, instead of information only available in a certain language.
*We always respect the copyright of the content of the author and always include the original link of the source article.If the author disagrees, just leave the report below the article, the article will be edited or deleted at the request of the author. Thanks very much! Best regards!
