As the cost-of-living crisis continues to put the pinch on people, everyone is looking for ways to keep their monthly energy bills down.
A lot of hacks and saving tips have become popular across TikTok and Instagram, from ways to keep your home warm to appliance-loading tips, but did you know that something as simple as the weather can have a major impact on monthly appliance running costs?
That's right! When it is windy, appliances become significantly cheaper to run, that's according to Wind Energy Ireland, who explain you can save a lot of money in the long term when it comes to bills. Why is this the case? It is down to wind driving down the price of power by putting expensive fossil fuel generators off the system.
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In 2020 alone, the average price of electricity on the wholesale market was one-quarter cheaper on the 50 windiest days of the year when compared to the 50 least windy days.
Speaking to RSVP Live, a spokesperson for Wind Energy Ireland said: "The simplest way to think of it is to understand that when wind energy comes onto the electricity system it displaces fossil fuel generation.
"So if 500 MW of wind, around 10 per cent of the electricity Ireland is using right this minute, comes onto the system it pushes off 500 MW of gas.
"I think most people get that. But the reason wind drives down price is that the 500 MW of gas it pushes off the system is the most expensive generation. It’s not picked randomly, whatever is most expensive is switched off first which lowers the overall price."
For more cost-of-living and saving tips on the Irish Mirror, see here.
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