According to new research a record amount of electricity was generated from renewable sources in the UK in 2022. Britain ended 2022 with the largest amount of clean power being created on record helped by the continued wintery blusters as the year drew to a close.
Academics from Imperial College in London analysed the data for Drax Electric Insights who commissioned the quarterly report.
The researchers found that wind, solar, biomass and hydropower accounted for more than two-fifths (40%) of the UK’s electricity for the first time in 2022 which is up from 35% in 2021. Power from renewables has gone up more than four times in the past ten years. The increase in power from renewable sources in the UK in 2022 resulted in a lowering of carbon dioxide emissions by 2.7 million tonnes according to a press release from Drax. At one point in May 2022, 72.8% of the grid’s power came from renewable sources while wind farms generated a landmark 20GW of electricity for the first time.
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Though 2022 has largely been a successful demonstration for the UK’s net zero future there are some critics who are warning that an increased reliance on renewable energy sources could see the UK grid face tighter margins as the weather gets colder.
The increase in renewable generation has come at a time which is crucial for the UK as energy prices soar and the price of natural gas skyrockets as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The use of renewable energy sources can help avoid the ever-changing prices of fossil fuels, as the fuel for these sources is often free.
Despite the increase in clean energy generation the report found that the share of fossil fuel energy generation has also increased. Fossil fuel supplied 42% of the country’s power this year, its largest share of the fuel mix since 2016.
Drax claims to be the UK’s biggest renewable energy producer by output, thanks in part to its vast biomass plants. However, Climate scientists have questioned the UK’s classing of biomass as a renewable energy source due to the amount of carbon emissions it produces. A 2021 report from energy think tank Ember found that Drax’s biomass plant in Yorkshire was the biggest single source of carbon dioxide in the UK.
Dr Iain Staffell from Imperial College London, lead author of the Drax Electric Insights report series said:
“This has been a year like no other for the energy industry. The public are feeling the pain of high gas prices on their energy bills, even though renewables are providing the grid with more cheap, green electricity than ever before. The lesson from 2022 is that we need to break our addiction to fossil fuels once and for all if we want to lower costs and better secure energy supplies.”
He hopes that increased investment in clean energy technologies could help the UK become “Europe’s renewable electricity powerhouse”, reducing energy bills and boosting the economy by exporting power to neighbouring countries.
It is fairly obvious if we look at the figures that had we not invested in wind, solar and biomass over the last decade the UK’s energy bills would have been even higher and we would have been at greater risk of blackouts over the winter.
Dr Stafell believes the UK should generate its own power from renewable sources rather than relying on imported fuel. According to Business Green he said:
“The energy crisis cannot be solved by increasing our reliance on gas imported from abroad. We need to turbocharge our investment in clean energy technologies to become Europe’s renewable electricity powerhouse, which will cut fuel bills at home and bring money into the economy by exporting power to our neighbouring countries.”
Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner said:
“We can accelerate and strengthen Britain’s long-term energy security by ending our reliance on expensive, imported fossil fuels and instead increase investment in homegrown renewables, and innovative green technologies.”
In fact, the recent report indicates that this trend has already begun with Britain becoming a net exporter of electricity for the first time in more than a decade. The success of renewables has helped to quadruple electricity exports from last year to 17.2 TWh of electricity. According to the report, an estimated 1.9 Terrawatt hours of electricity was exported in 2022 which generated more than £3 billion for the UK economy. This represents a dramatic swing in power trading from the previous year when Britain instead imported a net total of 22.9TWh.
A future dominated by renewables could help bring fuel prices back down to sustainable levels, while also achieving a reduction in carbon emissions vital for the UK’s journey to net zero by 2050.
