How Much Wind Power Would We Need?
JUNE 21, 2023
tags: wind power
By Paul Homewood
London-Array-Header-12
John Brown has sent me an analysis he has carried out of how much wind power capacity we would need to run the grid, assuming surplus wind is converted to hydrogen, which is then used to produce electricity in turn.
John has downloaded all of the BMRS data for last year, ie the wind generation and demand data at 5-minute intervals. His model then calculates how much wind capacity we would need to meet demand at all times of the year.
Demand averaged 29 GW last year, but this amount is incidental. Obviously even in a Net Zero future there will be other sources of power, such as nuclear. Equally demand will be much higher in years to come. But what the model enables us to do is to quantify how much wind capacity we would need for any given level of demand, assuming there are no other sources that can be switched on and off to cope with the intermittency of wind power.
The model comes up with the following calculations:
Total demand – 262 TWh
Actual wind generation in 2022 - 62 TWh
Wind generation needed to meet demand – 370 TWh
In simple terms, we would need six times as much wind capacity as we have currently, which is about 28 GW. In other words, 168 GW, although this could change slightly according to the mix of on and offshore.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/06/21/how-much-wind-power-would-we-need/
