Storms and lockdown make renewables Britain’s main source of power

Renewables became Britain’s main source of power over the first quarter of 2020 as a series of storms lifted wind generation to new highs before the coronavirus lockdown led to a drop off in demand.

New figures released by EnAppSys show output from renewables soared by more than 30 per cent year-on-year to reach 35.4TWh over the three months to the end of March, with their share of total generation in Great Britain rising by 11.2 percentage points to 44.6 per cent.

The market research firm said the extreme weather kept wind output above 10GW for 63 per cent of the period and above 5GW for 85 per cent. It marks the first time that renewables – wind, solar, hydro and biomass – have taken the top spot over an entire quarter, although this is likely to be a “temporary high”.

They also exceeded all fossil fuel generation for the first time ever as gas output plummeted 28 per cent to 23.2TWh – lowering the fuel’s share of the generation mix by 10.4 percentage points to 29.1 per cent and putting it in second. This more than offset the slight uptick coal generation, which saw its share rise by 0.4 percentage points to 3.7 per cent.

“This represents a significant milestone for Britain’s power industry,” remarked EnAppSys director Paul Verrill.

“Whilst the ‘stay at home’ measures reduced demand in the last weeks of March, which increased the contribution of renewables, wind farms generated significantly more power than gas-fired plants, which historically have been the dominant fuel type for electricity generation in Great Britain for some years now.

“With weather likely to return to more typical patterns in future quarters, the 45 per cent of electricity generation from renewable sources in the quarter is likely to be a temporary high.

“However, given recent trends which show that renewables are becoming an increasingly dominant player in Britain’s power mix, the continued build of offshore wind farms and the resurgence in onshore wind should see these levels being achieved more often in the longer term.

“In the shorter term, as coronavirus measures continue, reduced electricity demand will lead to renewables providing a significant contribution to the GB energy mix.”

There was also a more modest 7 per cent fall in nuclear generation to 12.2TWh following continued outages at some of Britain’s oldest plants, which are now nearing the end of their lives.

“Levels of nuclear generation are set to continue to decline as plants close, although this will be offset by increased levels of renewable and gas generation as well as any new nuclear builds,” said Verrill.

Imports dropped by 7 per cent to 5.8TWh and accounted for 7.3 per cent of electricity fed into the power grid.