Imports exceed nuclear generation for first time

Electricity imports from Europe exceeded generation from Britain’s nuclear fleet over the first three months of the year.

The new quarterly first came as nuclear output fell to a 40-year low due to multiple concurrent outages and a series of closures in recent years.

The Electricity Insights report from Drax said nuclear output averaged below 4GW during February – less than half of the levels seen five years ago. It hit nadir of just 2.1GW on the 17th day of the month as Britain’s newest nuclear plant, Sizewell B, was switched off for two months of maintenance and refuelling. At the time, all of the country’s five remaining nuclear power stations had at least one reactor offline for refuelling.

The fleet produced just 42TWh of electricity over the 12 months to end of March – the lowest level since 1982. The Dungeness B, Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B plants have all been closed over the last several years.

Meanwhile, electricity imports surged to their highest levels on record, peaking at more than 8GW in February when National Grid’s IFA interconnector to France came back online following the fire at its Sellindge convertor station in Kent in September 2021.

Imports quadrupled over the past six months as France’s nuclear crisis eased off and continental power prices dropped. The country’s nuclear output hit a 30-year low last year as half of its vast but aging nuclear fleet went offline because of technical issues and delayed maintenance.

The Electric Insights is produced by researchers at Imperial College London. Ahead of the release of the full release, they revealed last month that wind generation for the first time became the largest source of power over a quarter – overtaking gas generation to end to its seven-year run in the top spot.

Nevertheless, the report warned that the UK is risk of losing its position as a global leader in renewables because “debilitating” regulatory barriers and long waits for grid connections of sometimes more than a decade.

It said the onerous planning restrictions which have created a de-facto ban on onshore wind in England since 2015 meant only two new turbines were installed in the country last year. Prime minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to lift the restrictions but only one new turbine has begun construction so far this year.

The report contrasted this situation against the US government’s increased commitments to investment in clean energy, including $380 billion of new spending and tax breaks through the United States Inflation Reduction Act which came into effect at the start of 2023.

Citing data from the International Energy Agency, the report said the US government has committed to spend well over half a trillion dollars on clean energy over the next decade, equating to around $1,650 (or £1,350) per person.

The UK is currently committed to spend around two-thirds as much on energy per person. However, rather than providing “proactive investment in the future,” the report said that “the majority of UK spending has been in reaction to the recent energy crisis, providing enormous sums of money to protect consumers by capping energy bills.”

It said the UK government would need to increase its clean energy spending commitments to £80 billion to match those of the US on a per-capita basis.