Scottish Power says Britain needs backup for wind

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain, which aims to install about 30 gigawatts of wind turbines by 2020, will need to build almost as much backup power generation for calm weather periods, an executive from Scottish Power said on Wednesday.

The
government
is
relying
heavily
on
the
growth
of
wind
power
to
meet
tough
European
Union
renewable
energy
targets
and
promises
another
525
million
pounds
in
support
for
offshore
wind
as
part
of
Wednesday’s
budget.

But the more wind turbines Britain erects the more conventional plants it will need.

“Thirty gigawatts of wind maybe requires 25 GW of backup,” said Rupert Steele, regulation director at the Scottish arm of Spain’s Iberdrola, one of the world’s largest wind farm operators.

“The problem is that if you’ve got a high-pressured area, you may have quite a large area where there’s no wind at all … That happens also offshore,” he told Reuters.

Reuters