For the first time in nearly seven decades, the United Kingdom generated less electricity from gas and coal than at any point since 1957 C.E. — the year the first commercial nuclear power station opened and long before wind turbines dotted the British coastline. Fossil fuel plants contributed just over a third of the U.K.’s electricity in 2023 C.E., while renewable energy hit a record 42%, marking the third consecutive year this decade that clean power outpaced fossil fuels on the grid.
At a glance
- Fossil fuel decline: Gas and coal power generation fell 20% in 2023 C.E., with electricity from fossil fuels now two-thirds lower than its 2008 C.E. peak, according to Carbon Brief.
- Renewable energy record: Wind, solar, hydro, and biomass together supplied 42% of U.K. electricity — the highest share ever recorded — cementing renewables as the grid’s single largest power source.
- Low-carbon electricity: When nuclear power’s 13% share is added to renewables, more than half of all U.K. electricity in 2023 C.E. — 55% — came from sources that emit no carbon during generation.
How the U.K. squeezed out fossil fuels
The drop wasn’t caused by any single factor. It was a combination: more renewable capacity, higher electricity imports from France and Norway, and a long-term decline in overall demand.
France’s nuclear fleet, which had suffered a string of outages in 2022 C.E. that briefly made the U.K. a net electricity exporter, bounced back in 2023 C.E. Norway’s hydropower capacity also ran strong, pushing more low-carbon electricity across subsea cables into Britain. Gas plants generated 98 terawatt hours (TWh), or 31% of the grid. Coal — once the backbone of British electricity — produced just 4TWh, meeting roughly 1% of total demand.
Electricity demand itself has fallen 22% since its 2005 C.E. peak. More efficient appliances, better-insulated homes, and a long-term contraction in heavy manufacturing have all played a role. Less demand means less fuel burned — simple as that.
Coal’s final chapter in Britain
Coal’s 97% decline since 2008 C.E. is one of the steeper energy transitions any major economy has managed. The fuel that powered the Industrial Revolution, that lit cities and ran factories for two centuries, now contributes almost nothing to U.K. electricity.
The last chapter closes in September 2024 C.E., when the Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant in Nottinghamshire — owned by German utility Uniper and generating power for over 55 years — is scheduled to shut permanently. After that, coal will be gone from Britain’s electricity system entirely.
Dan McGrail, chief executive of RenewableUK, called the data evidence of “the central role that wind, solar and other clean power sources are consistently playing in Britain’s energy transition,” adding that the industry is working to accelerate new projects and supply chains amid global competition.
Wind’s expanding footprint
Renewable energy in the U.K. has grown sixfold since 2008 C.E., driven largely by offshore wind. In recent weeks prior to the Carbon Brief report’s release, offshore developers approved four new large windfarms in U.K. waters. Among them is Hornsea 3, to be built off the North Yorkshire coast by Denmark’s Ørsted — set to become the world’s largest offshore wind farm once complete.
German utility RWE also agreed to acquire three Norfolk offshore wind projects from Sweden’s Vattenfall in a €1 billion deal, reviving plans that had stalled due to rising supply chain costs. The deals signal continued investor appetite for U.K. offshore wind even as costs across the sector remain elevated.
A milestone, not a finish line
The numbers tell a genuine success story, but the harder climb is still ahead. U.K. electricity demand is projected to roughly double by 2050 C.E. as the country replaces gas boilers with heat pumps and petrol cars with electric vehicles. Meeting that doubled demand entirely with clean power will require building new generation capacity at a pace Britain hasn’t attempted before.
Grid infrastructure — transmission lines, storage, and interconnectors — will need to expand alongside generation. Analysis from Ember and others has highlighted that permitting and grid connection delays remain a real bottleneck across Europe, including in the U.K. The record renewable share of 2023 C.E. is a milestone worth marking. Getting to 100% clean power, consistently, is a different challenge altogether.
Still, what 2023 C.E. demonstrated is that a major industrialized economy can run on mostly clean electricity — not in theory, but in practice, through an ordinary calendar year. That evidence matters for every country watching and trying to chart its own path.
Renewable capacity has also created jobs and supply chains across regions of the U.K. that once relied on coal mining — a transition that has been uneven and, for some communities, painful. How equitably the next phase of growth is distributed remains an open question that deserves the same attention as the megawatt figures.
Read more
For more on this story, see: The Guardian
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Renewables now make up at least 49% of global power capacity
- U.K. cancer death rates down to their lowest level on record
- The Good News for Humankind archive on United Kingdom
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