The summer of 2017 was lauded as the “greenest ever” for electricity generation, thanks to a growing number of windfarms and solar installations edging out coal and gas power stations.
They usually provide four times as much power as solar each year.
2018’s summer heatwave made electricity generation dirtier Average monthly carbon intensity of UK electricity, grammes of CO2 per kWh.
National Grid said the carbon intensity of electricity generation was down 3% to 252g CO2 per kWh between January and August, compared with the same period last year.
After examining 17 years of monthly wind speeds in the UK, Bernstein bank concluded: “We do not find any evidence of a structural trend in wind speed over time.” Experts also said that the way solar highs coincided with wind lows showed that both technologies were needed in the switch to green energy.
How much renewable energy does the UK have?
Solar provided just over 10% of renewable electricity supply.
Utility-scale batteries have been installed around the UK’s electricity grid, and more are being built now.
Will climate change make wind droughts a regular occurrence?
However, a peer-reviewed paper last year said global warming would hit UK wind power generation.