
The report on the British energy market said, on average, renewable generation, including biomass, increased by 0.14GW to reach 13.5GW – an overall contribution of 45% to the power generation mix.
GB gas-fired output totalled 72.6TWh in 2024 – down on the 86.8TWh recorded the previous year – and a significant drop on the 111.4TWh generated in 2022.
The decrease in demand was attributed to a rise in renewables output, which totalled 118.1TWh in 2024 – up on the 116.9TWh recorded in 2023.
Wind generation was the major contributor to renewable output with a 70% share. Based on historic data, average wind generation also reached a record high of 9.43GW, which was 0.39GW higher than the previous year.
This record would have been even higher if wind generation had not needed to be curtailed due to constraints in the capacity of the transmission system during periods of high wind generation.
Electricity imports were also a key reason for the record low gas-fired output. GB interconnectors saw average net imports of 3.8GW last year, a 40% increase compared to 2023 and the highest level on record in the last ten years. The top two major contributors to this total were France (2.2GW), and Norway (1.1GW).
Overall, renewables were the dominant contributor to Britain’s fuel mix in 2024, accounting for 44.8% of the total. Gas-fired generation accounted for 27.5%, with nuclear (14.5%), imports (12.6%) and coal (0.6%) accounting for the rest.
‘Winter gas spikes not uncommon’
Phil Hewitt, Director at Montel Analytics said: “Last year gas prices were lower on average than in 2023, despite rising again from March onwards. These increases were recorded despite reduced demand for gas-fired generation, with total output at its lowest level for at least 20 years as a result of very high levels of renewable generation and a significant rise in electricity imports through the interconnectors.
“Renewable output would have been higher because almost 10% of potential wind output could not be used because of transmission system constraints. Meanwhile, the importance of electricity transfer though the interconnectors has been accentuated following Ofgem’s recent approval of five major new undersea energy links, which will further strengthen connections between Britain and Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ireland.
“The initial decline in gas prices was driven by elevated wind generation as a consequence of storms Isha and Jocelyn in the early part of 2024, although prices generally rose during the rest of the year.
“At this time of year, gas price spikes are not uncommon as additional gas reserves are often needed to meet higher-than-usual demand during periods of cold, calm weather. The recent cold snap sparked a media frenzy recently when British Gas owner Centrica announced that the UK had less than a week of gas reserves in store although National Gas, which owns the UK gas network, has insisted that storage levels remain healthy.”
It was also reported that on one day at the start of January, the National Energy System Operator paid over £17million to two fossil fuel power plants for back-up power due to the cold snap. It led Octopus Energy to call for increased support for household flexibility.
The Montel study also highlighted the demise of coal in Britain after 142 years, with the last coal station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar closing at the end of September. In addition, the report showed that nuclear power generation dropped to a record low of 38.2TWh, largely due to outages and delayed restarts which reduced the output of most units in the nuclear fleet.
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