Wind power has gone AWOL

As Britain continues to swelter in the heat, the blades of country’s wind turbines are turning incredibly slowly in the face of a nationwide “wind drought” which has seen a dramatic drop in the amount of energy produced.

New figures compiled by Imperial College London’s Rod Gross revealed July’s wind output was down by 40 percent so far compared with the same period last year. He said: “We’ve been typically doing between two to three gigawatts of wind [generation].“At a windier time of the year we might be doing nine or 10.”The unusual stillness in the air is the result of a sustained period of high, dense pressure over the UK, according to the Met Office.A Met Office spokesman said: “It’s like a lid, it keeps everything still.“From the forecast looking out over the next couple of weeks, there doesn’t seem to be any significant change on the way.”A National Grid spokesman said: “Between June 4 and July 15 wind generation was around 30 per cent lower compared to the same period last year.Full story