UK fossil fuel generation slumped in Q1, says Decc

The amount of electricity generated from fossil fuel sources in the first quarter of the year fell compared to the previous year’s Q1 output due to low demand and increased renewable deployment, government data shows.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) released its latest energy statistics which showed a significant decrease in the amount of coal-fired power used in the generation mix compared to the year before while gas-fired power burn fell to 16 year lows.

Total electricity generated in Q1 2014 fell by 8.2 per cent, from 101.7 TWh a year earlier to 93.3 TWh, due to lower than average demand as a result of mild temperatures through the winter months.

Coal fired generation fell by 16.5 per cent from 41.5 TWh to 34.7 TWh while gas-fired generation fell 19.5 per cent from 27.1 TWh to 21.8 TWh, “its lowest first quarter level for at least sixteen years”, Decc said.

By contrast wind and PV generation rose 59 per cent year on year from 7.1 TWh to 11.3 TWh, due to increased wind speeds as well as an increase in installed capacity, growing the share of renewable within the generation mix from 12.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 to 19.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2014.

Coal saw its share of the mix fall from 40.8 per cent to 37.1 per cent, whilst gas’s share of generation fell from 26.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 to 23.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, Decc data showed.

However, the summer months which followed saw a reversal of the two fossil fuels places within the mix, with historically low market prices for UK gas leading to an increased use of gas-fired power at the expense of coal-fired power use.

The share of nuclear generation was relatively steady, slipping from 18.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 to 17.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 due to station outages.