What is intermittency in relation to onshore wind and how does it affect electricity supply?
Onshore wind turbines are considered ‘intermittent’ sources, as they cannot generate electricity ‘on demand’, but only when the wind is blowing, and at sufficient strength. Other renewables, like solar and wave power are also intermittent. To tackle this issue, onshore electricity generation is ‘backed-up’ by a certain amount of conventional (fossil fuel- based) energy generation too, which kicks in when the turbines are not able to operate.
As the government seeks to increase the contribution of renewable energy technologies to electricity supply in the UK in the future, additional back-up via fossil fuel energy generation will also be needed to overcome intermittency problems. Other technologies are also expected to help tackle intermittency in the future, such as energy storage and electricity demand management.
