Winter breeze: Almost a third of electricity generated by wind on Christmas Day as three new records set
Festive cheer pushed the UK's wind power sector to record levels on Christmas Day, setting a trio of new records in the process.
Almost a third (32 per cent) of the UK's electricity was generated by wind power on 25 December, up from a previous high of 24 per cent the energy network reached in October 2014, according to National Grid data. Renewable power met 42 per cent of total demand throughout the day.
Christmas tree lights and turkey-cooking ovens also pushed wind power to supply a new record high of 41 per cent of the UK's electricity needs in a half-hour period, significantly higher than the previous peak of 34 per cent that was reached on 2 January last year.
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A third record was also set on Christmas Day, which capped off a week when 20 per cent of UK electricity was generated by wind, exceeding the previous 19 per cent high in December 2015.
The entire renewable energy sector, which also includes solar and tidal energy, provided 28 per cent of total generation in the new record week.
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RenewableUK's deputy chief executive Maf Smith said:
The growth of wind energy across the UK over the past 25 years is a great success story which we can all be proud of, and it's especially heartening to see that it was wind that helped to keep the Christmas lights on throughout the festive season.
Renewables are now a mainstream provider of electricity, delivering low cost, reliable power to consumers not just at Christmas but the whole year round.