News Release from RenewableUK

Wind Industry Profile of

RenewableUK

05/05/2021

New wind energy record set on blustery Bank Holiday

RenewableUK is welcoming today’s figures from National Grid which show that British wind farms set a new record yesterday afternoon by generating a new high of 17.6 gigawatts (GW) at 3.30pm providing 48.4% of Britain’s electricity.

RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Melanie Onn said: “On a wet and unseasonably cold May Bank Holiday, Britain’s wind farms generated a record amount of clean power just when we needed it most to stay warm and dry.

“The fact that wind is generating nearly half the country’s electricity shows how central it has become in our modern energy system.

“The UK’s healthy pipeline of wind energy projects set to be built onshore and offshore will help us to reach the Government’s target of net zero emissions as fast as possible, and as we ramp up our renewable energy capacity we can expect fresh records in the years ahead”.

More information from National Grid ESO on today’s record is available here.

This beats the previous record of 17.5GW set on 13^th February.

The highest percentage of GB electricity ever generated is 60%, set in the early hours of Wednesday 26^th August (14.2GW). More details on the percentage record are available here.