Wind power became Britain’s largest source of electricity in 2024. Generation from fossil fuels collapsed, with the country’s last coal power station now shut, and gas output down 16% from 2023. These reductions allowed carbon emissions from electricity generation to fall by 15%, continuing its trend over the past decade. With more wind comes more intermittency. This winter saw two [...] The post Introduction first appeared on Electric Insights.| Electric Insights
2024 was another landmark year for Britain’s power system. Wind became the largest source of electricity, the first time in its 140-year history that a fossil fuel was not in the top spot. Going right back to the foundation of our electricity system, coal was the largest source of generation each year until the 1984 miner’s strikes. Since then, either [...] The post Wind becomes Britain’s largest source of electricity in 2024 first appeared on Electric Insights.| Electric Insights
‘Dunkelflaute’ must surely be an early contender for the 2025 Oxford Dictionary word of the year. A German word meaning ‘dark doldrums’, it is used in the energy world to describe a dark, cold, calm spell of weather during which very little energy can be generated with wind or solar power. In December and January, Britain faced two spells of [...] The post Wind droughts show the need for low-carbon flexible generation first appeared on Electric Insights.| Electric Insights