How do wind farms manage climate change variability?

Last year winds were at historic lows in some parts of Europe and unusually high in other areas of the continent.  

In this episode of Climate Now, Euronews has the chance to visit a wind turbine construction site in Spain to see how the renewable energy industry is learning to manage the growing variability of the wind. 

We also discover how the latest turbines and control centre technology enable the growing wind sector to make the most of even a gentle breeze. 

Before that, let's take a look at the latest data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service. 

Globally temperatures were 0.3 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average, making it the sixth warmest April on record.

Temperatures across Europe were generally close to average. The standout anomalies of last month were the above average temperatures from northeastern Africa, across the Middle East to Pakistan and India.

North-west India and Pakistan had their warmest April on record, with daily highs up to 49 degrees. And there were heatwave conditions in Egypt and Sudan, too.

In terms of precipitation, in Europe the dry winter in Spain was followed by above average rainfall in the east of the country. On the other hand, the UK and Italy saw less rainfall than average last month. 

How does the wind energy industry manage the issue of variability at different times and in different places? 

We were curious to know more after the Copernicus Climate Change Service published this data for 2021. It shows how last year some areas of northwest Europe, highlighted in darker blue in the graphic above, experienced some of their lowest annual average wind speeds since 1979, while in the eastern Mediterranean winds were well above average in 2021.

The first answer to that question is