Grid exports for first time since 2010

The UK became a net exporter of electricity for the first time since 2010 in the second quarter of this year, according to new government statistics.

The latest edition of the quarterly Energy Trends statistics from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department, shows that the UK exported a record high 4 TWh of electricity between April and June.

The UK became a net exporter of electricity for the first time since 2010 with exports from the grid showing a 568% increase compared to the same quarter in 2021 as total demand decreased by 5.5% and generation increased by 8.2%. At the same time, demand from France surged due to outages in the country’s nuclear reactors.

The increase in UK generation was fuelled by a growth in output from renewable power, which hit a record level for the second quarter of a year, when weather conditions tend to be less favourable for wind and solar than other seasons.

Renewable electricity generation increased by 12% to 30.5 TWh, compared to the same quarter last year, reflecting higher wind speeds than during the same three months in 2021.

A strong increase in wind generation, which was up by 42%, more than offset a 16% fall in bioenergy power resulting from a shutdown due to planned maintenance at a major plant in May and June.

The shares from onshore and offshore wind increased from 7.3% to 9.4%, and 8.5% to 11.3% respectively.

The statistics show that low carbon sources generated 55% of total electricity between April and June this year, a 2.1 percentage points jump compared to the equivalent period in 2021.

This included an increase of 14% in nuclear generation to 13TWh, despite the closure of the Hunterston B plant in January 2022.

Renewables’ share of generation in Q2 was 38.6%, 1.3 percentage points higher than for the same three months in 2021 but lower than the 41.9% from fossil fuels.

Renewable capacity was 3.2GW, 6.5% higher than in the second quarter of 2021, with around three quarters of the increase accounted for by 2.4GW of new offshore wind.

New capacity added during the first half of 2022, which includes a total of 1.8GW at the East Moray and Hornsey Two offshore wind farms, has already outstripped that during the whole of 2020 and 2021 combined.

The statistics also show that demand for coal-fired electricity generation fell 41% to 195,000 tonnes with supply to major power producers falling to a new record low of 17,000 tonnes in May 2022.

In addition, the figures confirm that gas exports reached a record high as reduced domestic demand enabled the UK to act as a land-bridge for increased global supply to European markets.  Meanwhile UK imports of liquified natural gas from the USA more than doubled year on year as European countries sourced non-Russian supplies.

Gas used for electricity generation in the UK increased by 2%, due to increased demand in the second quarter of 2022 compared with the same period in the previous year.