Wind versus Nuclear: The real story in pictures
Here’s an interesting, balanced analysis of the statistics of wind power versus nuclear power in the UK over the past couple of months. There’s obviously room for more growth in renewable energy generation, but I still think we’ll need to increase nuclear capacity to provide a counter to the intermittent variability of wind power if we are to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, which still produce most of the UK’s energy…
Graph showing the electricity generated by nuclear and wind power (in gigawatts) every 5 minutes for the months of September and October 2014. The grey area shows the period when wind power exceeded nuclear power. (Click Graph to enlarge)
For a few days in October 2014, wind energy consistently generated more electricity in the UK than nuclear power. Wow!
You may have become aware of this through several news outlets. The event was reported on the BBC, but curiously the Daily Mail seems not to have noticed .
Alternatively, you may like me, have been watching live on Gridwatch – a web site that finally makes the data on electricity generation easily accessible.
I was curious about the context of this achievement and so I downloaded the historically archived data on electricity generation derived from coal, gas, nuclear and wind generation in the UK for the last three years. (Download Page)
And graphing the…
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In the Dark 
November 5, 2014 at 1:01 pm
How about another reader poll, Peter: carbon, nuclear or lights out? Because those are the real alternatives.
November 5, 2014 at 3:56 pm
I only wish it were a false trichotomy. The German experience is proving it true. I am all for research into energy storage on the necessary scale but nothing is on the horizon.
November 6, 2014 at 12:37 am
If it’s not a technological problem then why is there so much research into energy storage and why do people say it is the big problem with solar and wind?
Cars that take hours to charge and then run 100 miles are good only for commuting which is what is meant to be superseded by public transport. Reverse hydroelectric power is OK only in a small number of locales which added up are vastly insufficient.
November 6, 2014 at 9:33 am
You have given an answer to why people might be saying that there is a technological problem. I don’t agree with your answer; go quantitative and there simply isn’t the energy storage available in the suggestions you make, by an order of magnitude. That is why research goes on, which would not be the case if the problem were one of will rather than technology.
November 6, 2014 at 3:09 pm
As I said, I am all in favour of research. But it does remain an unsolved problem to store energy on that scale.