UK Wind Power Generation Hit A Record High In 2022

Wind power generation reached a record high last year in the UK, accounting for a 26.8% share of total electricity generation, the BBC reported, citing data published by National Grid.

Together with nuclear, the report noted, wind accounted for more electricity production than fossil fuels. That’s despite the fact that gas was the single largest source of electricity generation in the country in 2022, accounting for 38.5 percent of the total, per the National Grid numbers.

The numbers also showed that for five months last year, more than 50 percent of the electricity produced in the country was generated by wind and nuclear. Even so, Britons paid exorbitant prices for electricity because, like in continental Europe, the electricity market in the UK has all prices based on the price of gas.

"The UK has a good record with offshore wind. We're quite a giant in the offshore wind world and our industry is very attractive," said the head of energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, an energy non-profit, as quoted by the BBC.

"Our old-fashioned energy grid urgently needs investment to maximise the opportunity that wind and solar offer to continue to reduce bills," Jess Ralson added.

The UK has one of the largest wind power capacities globally, at 25.5 GW, and government plans should see this rise further, considerably. The target for 2030 is 50 GW of offshore wind power.

“The Government’s Energy Security Strategy set out a series of steps to accelerate our transition away from reliance on expensive and environmentally harmful fossil fuels,” the country’s energy market regulator Ofgem wrote in a report late last year.

“The invasion of Ukraine highlights that this transition is now not just a matter of meeting Great Britain’s Net Zero targets, but also highlights the need to reduce our reliance on gas from a security of supply perspective.”

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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