Earlier this month wind power in the UK produced a record amount of electricity – some 80 GW hours, or the equivalent to over 10% of the UK’s total electricity generation. While that record is something to be celebrated, it prompted several articles in the UK media claiming that backing-up wind by ramping fossil fuel plants up and down according to wind output, pumps out more carbon than running them at more consistent levels.  But a blog published by the Guardian today highlights hard statistical evidence that puts paid to that claim.

According to the Guardian, the ramping up and down carbon claim comes from the fact that a different type of gas power plant is required to produce gas-fired electricity in shorter time frames – open cycle gas turbines and not combined cycle gas turbines that are the most common producers of gas-fired electricity in the UK. Open cycle gas turbines are less efficient to run than combined cycle leading to the claim that backing up wind increases carbon emissions.

Wind power provides an effective way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as well as being a secure and reliable source of energy for the United Kingdom, according to a new report.

The 22-page report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) notes that much of the opposition to wind power in the UK appears to be based on the mistaken belief that it is an ineffective technology.

“Wind power can significantly reduce carbon emissions, is reliable, poses no threat to energy security, and is technically capable of providing a significant proportion of the UK’s electricity supply with minimal impact on the existing operation of the grid,” says the report — Beyond the bluster: Why wind power is an effective technology.

“Claims to the contrary are not supported by the evidence.”

North Hoyle offshore wind farm

While this blog frequently focusses on wind power reporting in national-level newspapers, the regional-level or local newspaper does not get as much attention as it perhaps merits.

Last month I was in North Wales – a coastline which is home to the UK’s first large scale offshore wind farm called North Hoyle. It currently has one other operating offshore wind farm – Rhyl Flats, and a massive development is underway further out to sea at Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm which, when completed in 2013, is set to provide electricity to cover nearly one-third of homes in Wales.

There is, of course, local opposition. On this particular stretch of coastline the opposition group is called Save Our Scenery – slightly ironic given that the new offshore farm is 18 km offshore and will be frequently out of vision thanks to the often dense banks of Welsh cloud.

Investors and potential investors in onshore wind energy in the UK can breathe a sigh of relief today after the government agreed to cut subsidies by 10% from April 2013, and not 25% as was previously feared.

“Renewable energy will create a multibillion-pound boom for the British economy, driving growth and supporting jobs across the country. The support we’re setting out today will unlock investment decisions, help ensure that rapid growth in renewable energy continues and show the key role of renewables for our energy security”, Ed Davey, UK Energy Secretary, said.

Some  of the UK’s media is quick to publish anti-wind power stories, so it came as a surprise when this week British papers picked up on a new study by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change on onshore wind energy.

The paper entitled, ‘the case for and against onshore wind energy in the UK,’ says that onshore wind energy will be as cheap as fossil fuels by 2016 – just four years away.