"BY ANDERS LORENZEN"
AT 00:04 LOCAL TIME EARLY ON MONDAY, DENMARK PRODUCED ENOUGH ENERGY FROM WIND POWER TO SATISFY THE WHOLE COUNTRY'S ELECTRICITY DEMAND. ON ENERGINET (THE COMPANY THAT RUNS DENMARK'S GRID) LIVE INFOGRAPHIC STATS THAT TRACKS HOW MUCH ENERGY THAT IS BEING PRODUCED, CONSUMED, EXPORTED AND IMPORTED, RECORD-BREAKING STATS ABOUT DENMARK'S CURRENT WIND POWER GENERATION WAS REVEALED.
Denmark's total electricity demand was at 3.5 gigawatts (GW), Denmark's wind turbines produced a staggering 3.8 GW. The remaining power supply came from central power stations that produced 1.5 GW and local combined heat and power plants (CHP) that produced 0.38 GW. Even some with the worst mathematical skills can work out from this that Denmark produced by far in excess of what it can consume which amounted to them exporting 2.2 GW worth of electricity to Norway, Sweden and Germany.
This showed that Denmark could switch off all fossil fuels and still keep the lights on, but as they didn't Denmark produced 181 g of CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour (kWh).
The staggering record provides further ammunition for environmentalists and renewable energy fans that wind power is working and the arguments that wind could play an important role in tomorrow's energy are viable.
It does have to be noted though that these groundbreaking results come in the midst of a powerful snowstorm affecting most of the country, that would have been one of the factors behind the increased wind power generation. But nevertheless, this record will without a doubt, be compared to a similar record produced by Germany, when it set the world record for solar power generation. On the 26th of May 2012 solar met half of the country's electricity demand.
Denmark and Germany should enjoy these records while they have them, as with continued expansion of renewables worldwide and the increase of efficiency, it's likely to be beaten again in the not too distant future.
Origin: altenergyprograms.blogspot.com
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