Is wind energy 100% carbon free?

Wind energy is one of the cleanest sources of electricity generation. However, it’s not entirely carbon-free. Of course, when it comes to electricity generation, wind by all accounts is far less polluting than coal, gas, or oil based plants.

However, due to the nature of wind energy and the fact that it is not always available, we still rely on these types of polluting plants to make up for any shortages that may occur when the wind suddenly stops blowing. We call this spinning reserve.

To ensure that there is sufficient capacity available to respond rapidly to a sudden increase in electricity demand, or an interruption to supply, some thermal power stations are kept in a condition known as 'spinning reserve'. These plants are burning fuel and are generating electricity but are not running at full load. For example, one of the two 1,000 MW cross channel links importing electricity into the UK from France could fail, a steam turbine could trip out, or a super grid line could be hit by lightening. To provide an acceptable margin of safety, enough plant is held in spinning reserve to cater for the failure of the single largest power source.

These are plants that as described above aren’t operating at full capacity, but can be called upon on a moment’s notice to increase output to cover any shortfalls. As wind power generation increases, so too must the available standby capacity keep up in order to balance any fluctuations.

Unfortunately, these standby plants are generally carbon intense, because they need to be called upon on a moment’s notice. Nuclear is not suitable for these functions, so we often see gas plants filling these roles.


Until we have an effective means of energy storage that can utilize wind power when it is available and provide the backup and capacity when it is not, wind power will remain part of a carbon generating energy landscape. 

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