Wind Energy Output in Scotland Decreased Due to Good Weather

Scottish wind farms producing half of normal

July 19, 2010 -- Good weather has nearly halved energy production from wind farms in Scotland, Scotland on Sunday reported.

Wind turbines in the country normally output energy at a rate of 30 percent of a windmill's maximum capacity, but the average output this year has been a mere 17 percent.

Scottish wind farm opponent Stuart Young, who runs Caithness Wind Information Forum, told Scotland on Sunday, "At the moment there's not a big enough penetration of wind to cause National Grid a problem, but the more we rely on it and the less we use fossil fuels the more likely there is to be a set of circumstances when - with very high demand and very low output - the only thing is to turn customers off.

"I hope this makes the politicians sit up and listen. They are not listening now. They have got their hands over their ears and they are in thrall to the wind industry."

A spokeswoman for the UK Government's Department of Energy and Climate Change told the paper: "Wind speeds have been lower than the nine-year average in each of the first five months of this year, so this will have affected the generating output of wind farms.

"Generally, the wind is blowing somewhere in the UK and the likelihood of low wind speeds affecting 50 per cent of the country occurs less than 100 hours per year."

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