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Green energy investment collapses in UK while wind power outproduces nuclear for the first time

22 May 2018
Electricity
energynomics

Clean energy investment in the UK took a 56% drop in 2017 according to the Environmental Audit Committee. The Imperial College of London confirms that from January to March 2018, wind power outproduced for the first time ever nuclear power in the UK. As solar power grows, grid managers struggle to reconcile power production and the market’s need. A new study examines possible scenarios and their effects on consumers and grid managing, according to electrek.co.

A new plan is required to secure green investing in the UK according to the Environmental Audit Committee. Several new policies by Theresa May’s government created a “hostile environment” for renewable energy, so says Dr. Alan Whitehead, Labour’s shadow minister for energy and climate change. Onshore wind power was hit particularly hard with a 94% decrease: “Under pressure from a group of MPs calling onshore wind “inefficient and intermittent”, the Conservatives made a manifesto pledge to remove subsidies from new onshore wind projects,” says Whitehead.

However, what was not clear at that time was that the cost of onshore wind was set to plummet, making it the cheapest form of electricity generation.” The growth of solar power in the country is also jeopardized, as subsidies for installing residential panels have been cut by 65%, according to the same report.

But Wind power production overtakes nuclear energy in the UK for the first time ever. The Imperial College of London revealed this in their seventh annual Electric Insights report. The reports are produced each quarter by Dr. Iain Staffell of the Centre for Environmental Policy along with other experts. This latest Electric Insights analysis found that 18.8% of the UK’s wind power over the first quarter of 2018 had come from wind farms.

The analysis also revealed that, while at their peak, wind farms supplied 47.3% of the country’s demand. All in all, wind peaked at over 14 GW of electricity and, in the end, produced more power than nuclear.

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