Renewables has overtaken fuel to change into the largest single supply of energy on the UK grid to this point this winter, with energy generated by wind, hydro and photo voltaic reaching a file 34TWh from 1 October 2022 to 13 January 2023.
That’s the headline discovering from the newest version of the Vitality Local weather and Intelligence Unit’s (ECIU) Winter Energy Tracker, which discovered that renewables have produced 2TWh extra electrical energy than fuel over the winter months up to now.
In line with the evaluation, producing the identical quantity of energy utilizing fuel energy stations alone would have required an extra 68TWh of fuel, which is equal to 7.4 million houses’ fuel use for your complete winter, or 78 tankers of liquified pure fuel (LNG).
The figures additionally confirmed that in winter to this point renewables have displaced the equal of 1 / 4 of UK annual fuel demand for energy, 16 per cent of UK web fuel imports, and a fifth of what the nation imports by way of pipelines.
The ECIU’s findings mirror related studies earlier this month from Nationwide Grid, which confirmed greater than half the UK’s electrical energy got here from zero carbon sources throughout 5 months final yr.
The information additional underscores how renewables have performed a crucial function in bolstering UK power safety and curbing power payments at a time when wholesale fuel costs have hit file highs and governments throughout Europe have needed to rush to safe fuel imports to exchange imports from Russia.
“Wind has chosen a superb yr to overhaul fuel given how costly fuel has change into and questions round its safety of provide,” stated Jess Ralston, head of power at ECIU. “Because the wind trade expands alongside the fast development of battery storage, ever extra of the electrical energy we use is homegrown but in addition plentiful sufficient to export. Rushing up funding in our energy grid will allow extra of this low-cost, pure power to move to houses, so bringing down payments.”
The ECIU report additionally discovered that different sources of low carbon era, reminiscent of nuclear and biomass, generated 20TWh over the winter interval the place utilizing fuel energy vegetation as a substitute would require 39TWh extra fuel – equal to fifteen per cent of annual UK fuel demand for energy.
As well as, the report confirmed that battery storage capability was up five-fold from final winter and at present stands at 2.5GW. The report estimated that the UK’s grid battery capability is now ample to offer help to the grid throughout instances of tight provide equal to round two nuclear energy stations.
The pipeline of battery storage tasks within the UK has doubled between 2021 and 2022 in keeping with figures from RenewableUK, which means the sector is already set to exceed the Nationwide Grid’s expectations for 2035. In line with analysis from the division of Enterprise, Vitality and Industrial Technique the UK’s pumped hydro storage capability can be set to rise by 130 per cent to six.6GW.
ECIU’s Winter Energy Tracker additionally highlighted how the UK nonetheless makes use of fuel for round 40 per cent of its energy era and 85 per cent of house heating and consequently has a better stage of fuel dependency than every other nation in Europe. In line with the Worldwide Financial Fund, the UK’s excessive stage of fuel dependency mixed with the actual fact the nation has a number of the least environment friendly housing inventory in Europe has meant that UK households have confronted a number of the worst power invoice will increase.
Nonetheless, the rise in renewables era has additionally been discovered to restrict wholesale electrical energy prices, partly by displacing costly fuel energy vegetation that may in any other case set greater costs and partly by means of using Contracts for Distinction (CfDs) which have capped the worth of renewable energy whilst wholesale costs have risen sharply.
The CfD regime is returning round £65 per family this winter, which the ECIU stated equates to round £1.9bn in whole, of which £1.1bn is paid on to households with an extra £800m serving to to curb the fee to the Treasury of its worth freeze bundle.