Britain Produced Record Amount Of Wind Power In 2022

LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Britain’s wind farms contributed a record 26.8% of the country’s electricity in 2022 although gas-fired power plants remained the biggest source of power, National Grid NG.L data showed on Friday.

Britain has a target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 which will require a huge scale-up of renewable power generation such as wind and solar.

The share of wind power in Britain’s electricity mix last year was up from 21.8% in 2021, the data showed, as more wind projects came online.

The world’s largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea 2 off the Yorkshire coast in the North Sea, became fully operational in August 2022.

The wind farm can generate enough electricity to power around 1.4 million homes.

Britain’s gas-fired power plants produced 38.5% of the country’s electricity last year, up from 37.8% in 2021, the data showed.

The rise came as the country imported less electricity, with imports making up 5.5% of the total down from 10.3% in 2021.

Britain typically imports electricity from France but this year issues with France’s nuclear fleet mean the European country which traditionally was a large exporter of power, turned a net importer in 2022. 

(Reporting By Susanna TwidaleEditing by Tomasz Janowski)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023.

Subscribe for Daily Maritime Insights

Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update

— trusted by our 109,180 members