Power generated by wind has reached 20GW for the first time in Great Britain’s history, National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) has confirmed.
The ESO said that while it is waiting on further data to confirm the final figure, it is “clear” a new record was reached on Wednesday (2 November).
Although the official final figure is yet to be released, live energy data for Great Britain suggested on Wednesday afternoon that wind was generating 20.5GW of power.
It comes just one week after the previous record of 19,936MW last Wednesday morning (26 October). Last week’s record edged out the previous high of 19,916MW seen on 25 May this year.
The record for the highest percentage of electricity generated from wind during a half-hour period is 64%, which was set of 29 January this year.
On Wednesday (as of 9pm), wind accounted for around 53% of total generation, with gas at 25% and nuclear 17%.
Statistics for Tuesday (1 November) showed the following generation mix for Great Britain: