Operators of the UK’s wind and solar plants (WASPs) think this might be an all time Record !!

Just a few days ago, 06 December 2020, for more than 24 hours, the total installed capacity of the UK’s WASPs, hit a combined capacity factor of 1.6%:

On average, over the course of 2019, WASPs generated 13,800 MW of intermittent electricity every hour of every day. This [on average] was enough to power the 27.8 million UK households, with 2.3 MW [on average] going spare.

But this new record sets an all time low for the number of households powered by WASPs — it was down to 1.44 million, which is almost 1 in every 20 of the present day 27.8 million homes.

Gawd knows what we would have done without the full panoply of gas-fired infrastructure:

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy posted this video on their ‘facebook’ Page proclaiming that the UK would install: ENOUGH OFFSHORE WIND TO POWER EVERY HOME IN THE UK BY 2030

(Core parts of the Energy White Paper backing our ambitious plans include): 7. Delivering ambitious electricity commitments through our world-beating commitment to deliver 40GW of offshore wind by 2030, including 1GW of floating wind, enough to power every home in the country — while attracting new offshore wind manufacturers to the UK.

At some point, that 40 GW of offshore wind will equal (or maybe lower) the 1.6% capacity factor and generate [on average] 640,000 kW every hour, for over 24 hours. Let’s say, by 2030, the average UK home, with many charging BEVs and with heating and hot water from heat pumps, still ‘draws’ [on average] 0.413 kW every hour (3,618 kWh per year).

That 40 GW of offshore wind would power 1.55 million homes. But by 2030, there will be over 31 million homes in the UK — Well — that’s just 1 in 20!

So I thought it worthwhile to pop a comment on the BEIS’s facebook post to see if they would consider changing the message carried in the video to: