Storm Ellen sets wind power record
Highest level of electricity production from turbines recorded as unseasonal weather batters Britain
STORM Ellen’s winds of up to 79mph set a record for the highest ever share of wind power to the electricity system.
National Grid ESO said that wind turbines supplied 59.1 per cent of Britain’s power on Saturday at 1am.
A spokesman said “It means wind was contributing more than it has ever done to the electricity system”. It came after 79mph gusts at Capel Curig in North Wales on Thursday became the highest wind speeds to be recorded during Storm Ellen, the Met Office said.
The unseasonably deep Atlantic low pressure system brought strong winds and heavy rain to parts of the UK and Ireland from Wednesday to Friday.
Juliet Davenport, chief executive of Good Energy, the 100 per cent renewable power company, said: “This record shows how wind is powering our country into a zero-carbon future. But we need to take a step back, and ask why we are seeing such unusual storms in August. It’s a sign of how our climate is changing.”
Storm Francis, which hit just days after Storm Ellen, saw gusts of 81mph hit The Needles near the Isle of Wight on Tuesday. This is just short of the August record for the UK of 87mph recorded in 1996.
Storm Francis caused chaos across the UK with homes flooded, campers rescued, and road and rail travel disrupted. The Environment Agency had 19 flood alerts in place for England yesterday, and North Wales Police closed the A5 in the morning from Bethesda to Betws y Coed due to flooding and a landslide.
South Wales Police said they were involved in two separate water searches from the swollen River Taff, and fire crews had to rescue holidaymakers from a flooded campsite in the town of St Clears, Carmarthenshire, after river levels rose in the area. Another person was pulled from the River Wye in Monmouth.
Forecasters had also predicted heavy rain with more than 80mm of rainfall in the Lake District.
Elsewhere, clear-up had begun after a boat was used to help rescue residents in Newcastle, a picturesque east coast town on the edge of the Mourne Mountains.
Up to 300 homes have been affected and streets left under three or four feet of water, a local representative said.
Storm Francis has now cleared to the east of Britain, but there still is “some disruptive weather” to come up to tomorrow before things become “settled but more chilly for the bank holiday weekend,” according to Met Office forecaster Bonnie Diamond.
She added: “The latter part of August has been dominated by Storm Ellen and Storm Francis, both of which had wind warnings which is unusual for August, but then if you rewind to the beginning of the month, we had no wind at all. We had high temperatures, light winds and exceptional heat which lasted for about a week.
“It has been an interesting month, starting out with a hot summer, and seeing its way out with more autumnal weather.”