You might be forgiven for missing this story, during the coldest days of the snowy weather we experienced at the start of 2010, as you were probably wrapped up in so many layers that nothing got through.
Apparently, we weren't the only ones affected by the cold weather - spare a thought for your local Wind Turbine.
The Telegraph reported a couple of weeks ago how the high pressure associated with the cold spell meant a distinct lack of wind. As a result, only 0.2% of a possible 5% of the UK's energy was generated by the UK's current wind turbines over the coldest few days.
Jeremy Nicholson, director of the Energy Intensive Users Group (EIUG) is quoted as warning "If we had this 30 gigawatts of wind power, it wouldn't have contributed anything of any significance this winter," he said. "The current cold snap is a warning that our power generation and gas supplies are under strain and it is getting worse."
The Telegraphs piece makes both interesting and disturbing reading at the same time. The situation wasn't helped when the National Grid issued two warnings about gas supply, following problems with a Norwegian gas pipeline coinciding with the cold weather.
Well worth 5 minutes of your time for a read - click here to read the full article.
photo credit: bulinna
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