Wind Intermittency not a Problem

By John Swindells 21 Apr 2006 | Comment
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The UK Energy Research Centre has published a report on the costs and impacts of intermittent renewable energy such as wind. It concludes that intermittency need not present a significant obstacle to the development of renewable sources, and would represent about a 1% surcharge on the typical domestic bill.

Most importantly it stated that a 100% backup supply of electricity, from non-renewable sources, was un-necessary, but that intermittency costs would rise as the proportion of electricity from wind energy increased.

To keep costs down a wide variety and geographical dispersion of sources was suggested. This certainly gives a thumbs up to the Government's 'Micro Energy' plan for there to be much more localised, small-scale electricity generation.

The graph gives an idea of electricity demand (in 2003) at various times of the day, for various times of the year.

UK ERC documents:

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