Decc hits out at Daily Mail over misleading wind article

UK: The UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) has issued a statement describing an anti-wind article in the right-wing Daily Mail newspaper as misleading.

by David Weston 8 January 2015

UK wind power generated 28.1TWh of electricity in 2014

A Daily Mail article, headlined "", appeared on the its website on 1 January.

It said the amount of electricity generated by wind farms dropped by 20% in the three months to June 2014 "despite 900 turbines being built in 2013" due to lower wind speeds.

But Decc responded by arguing that the paper failed to use its most recent figures from 18 December 2014.

The up-to-date figures show generation from wind projects in the three months to October 2014 increased by 5.9% compared with the same period in 2013, despite continued low-wind speeds.

A statement from Decc said: "We now have a record amount of green electricity, with over 15% of electricity coming from renewables. In October 2014 we produced more electricity from renewables than from nuclear for the first time ever."

This week, trade body RenewableUK released figures showing the UK wind sector's annual electricity output grew by 15% last year.

Overall, wind power provided 9.3% of the UK electricity supply in 2014, compared with 7.8% in 2013. UK wind power generated 28.1TWh of electricity, up from 24.5TWh in 2013.