While the debate surrounding the pros and cons of wind power rumbles on, the increasing numbers of turbines that are appearing across the country are beginning to make a real contribution to the UK’s energy supplies.

The National Grid reports that Monday 6^th September saw a record output for the wind farms of Britain – generating nearly 5% of all power going into the Grid at that time. The company confirmed that with output peaking at 1,860MW, the power generated by the wind energy sector was greater than that produced by three nuclear power stations.

The National Grid believes that over that 24-hour period (and taking into account embedded wind generation), nearly 10% of the UK’s power came from the wind alone. A great achievement, even if the UK is still a long way behind other parts of Europe in this field. Spain and Portugal, for example, consistently meet 50% of their energy demands through wind farmed along the Iberian Peninsula. But as mentioned in an earlier post, the political, social and economic infrastructure of these nations seems to offer greater support to the renewable cause than here in the UK.

When considering the 2020 target of generating 15% of the UK’s energy from renewable sources, this latest data should be encouraging news for the industry – and could go a long way to helping raise the common image of wind farms from ‘noisy blots on the landscape’ to valuable part of the renewable energy mix.

To start the year Riello UPS has just become the first uninterruptible power supplies manufacturer to rate its products for energy efficiency. The Riello UPS ECO Energy Levels system rates each Riello UPS for its energy efficiency and the availability of a ‘smart-mode’ feature. The levels run from 1 to 6, with 6 being the highest available. Riello UPS has taken this approach to help datacentre managers assess the most energy efficient UPS for their application. A full ECO UPS press release is available or for more information see our website.

The Carbon Trust is a Government initiative whose goal is to create a low carbon economy by helping organisations to reduce their carbon emissions. As part of this strategy, the Carbon Trust is also working to get suitable hardware systems onto the Energy Technology List (ETL). This will allow organisations to benefit from Enhanced Capital Allowances and improved corporation tax relief. This is possibly something that will happen in 2009 with the right momentum (subject to parliamentary approval) and is another reason to consider the eco-friendly Riello Multi Plus UPS.