25 Jun 2020 | 12:20 UTC — London

Low carbon generation exceeds 60% of UK generation mix in Q1: BEIS

Highlights

Gas-firing down 26% on year, coal edges up

Wind accounts for 30% of total generation

Extended maintenance dents nuclear

London — Low carbon generation accounted for 62.1% of the UK generation mix in the first quarter, a record high, the Department of Business, Energy and said in a statistical update June 25.

Mirroring this, fossil fuel generation sank to an all-time low for a quarter of 35.4%, with a 26% drop in gas-fired generation.

Record low carbon generation was due to high wind speeds and despite reduced nuclear. February recorded the highest average monthly wind speeds in the reported time series, while offshore wind capacity increased 18.5% from Q1 2019.

Renewables generated 47% (40.8 TWh) of UK electricity in Q1, beating the previous quarterly record of 38.9% set in Q3 2019.

Wind generated 30% (26 TWh) of UK power in Q1, 14.7% from onshore wind, 15.2% from offshore, the resource benefiting from higher wind speeds in February.

Fossil fuel's share in UK generation dropped below 40% for the first time for any quarter.

Gas generation was down 9 TWh compared with Q1 2019, while there was a last-gasp bounce in coal generation of 7.7% on the year as stocks at Fiddlers Ferry power station were run down ahead of the plant's closure at the end of March.

Nuclear output for the period was down 5.8% year on year. An outage was completed at Heysham 1 while outages continued at Dungeness B, Hunterson B and Heysham 2 and started at Hinkley Point B.

Total domestic production of 86.9 TWh was down 0.8% year on year, while final consumption of 78.3 TWh was down 1.8%.

Consumption was lower in all sectors but with a larger decrease for the industrial sector, down 3.6% compared with Q1 2019.

BEIS said the impact of the coronavirus on energy production and consumption was marginal for most fuels as the lockdown only came into effect on March 23.

Finally, provisional calculations "show that 13.2% of final energy consumption in 2019 came from renewable sources, up from 12% in 2018, as measured against the UK's target to reach 15% by 2020 under the 2009 EU Renewable Directive," BEIS said.

UK QUARTERLY GENERATION, EXCHANGES, CONSUMPTION (TWh)

Q1 19
Q2 19
Q3 19
Q4 19
Q1 20
Coal
3.05
0.46
0.73
2.66
3.28
Oil
0.33
0.29
0.26
0.24
0.2
Gas
36.61
33.12
28.59
33.61
27.27
Nuclear
13.91
13.07
13.59
15.62
13.11
Hydro (natural flow)
1.82
0.93
1.44
1.75
2.46
Wind and solar
20.73
16.96
18.7
20.88
27.98
- of which, offshore
8.64
5.97
7.23
10.3
13.24
Bioenergy
8.92
9.07
9.03
10.29
10.41
Other fuels
1.63
1.52
1.55
1.66
1.73
Pumped storage
0.56
0.34
0.37
0.48
0.43
Total production
87.56
75.76
74.26
87.18
86.87
Imports
6.78
6.13
5.52
6.13
6.68
Exports
0.73
0.50
1.07
1.08
0.88
Final consumption
79.70
69.35
67.51
78.71
78.28
Source: BEIS