April 25, 2011
Letters, Scotland

Inefficiency uncovered

The Courier, www.thecourier.co.uk 23 April 2011The Courier, www.thecourier.co.uk 23 April 2011

Once again a Scottish Renewables spokesperson indulges in statistical manipulation in an attempt to hide the woeful performance of wind turbines (April 20).

The load factor calculated by Stuart Young, in a report issued by the John Muir Trust, used published National Grid data and showed a load factor for 2010 of 21.1%. The corresponding load factor reported by DECC for 2010 was 21.4%.

This remarkable alignment would suggest the figures by JMT to be considerably more reliable than the higher figures claimed by Scottish Renewables.

After reading the Scottish Renewables letter, I checked readily available data and found that on April 20, real-time data showed a forecast peak wind generation of 134 MW out of a total metered capacity of 3226 MW, giving a load factor of around 4%.

G. M. Lindsay.
Whinfield Gardens,
Kinross.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/04/25/inefficiency-uncovered/