U.K. Wind Energy Hits Record, Bringing Relief to Power Costs

(Bloomberg) --

U.K. wind farms produced a record amount of energy on Saturday, helping to ease the country’s dependence on expensive fossil fuels in the short-term.

Wind generation rose as high as 18,431 megawatts, according to data from National Grid. 

Higher wind speeds bring temporary relief to U.K. power prices. Surging natural gas prices are pushing up electricity costs which are feeding into bills for millions of households. Power for delivery on Saturday fell to 150.59 pounds ($201.81) per megawatt-hour, the lowest level since Jan. 3 on the N2EX exchange. The price for power on Sunday, when the wind is set to be lower, jumped to 193.57 pounds per megawatt-hour.

High Power Prices Mean Wind Farms Are Paying the U.K. Government

Wind power, in particular offshore, is the cornerstone of Britain’s net-zero plan, and it’s the second-biggest market in the world for the technology. The nation has plans to quadruple its capacity of wind farms at sea by the end this decade. Earlier this month Scotland awarded seabed rights for more than twice the size of the U.K.’s current capacity.

The high amount of generation Saturday wasn’t just due to strong winter winds, but also because of new offshore wind farms that started operating last year. As more projects come online, including the world’s largest offshore wind farm that’s being developed off the east coast of England, the country’s output will increase further.

(Updates generation figure in second paragraph, adds power price for Sunday in third.)

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