CLIMATE CRISIS

New Labour Government in UK Unleashes Onshore Wind, with 61% of British Electricity now Low-Carbon

JUAN COLE07/15/2024

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The new Labour government in Britain last week took steps to remove the ban on onshore wind farms instituted by the Conservative government, which made it possible for such projects to be forestalled even by a single objection.

Gavin McGuire at Reuters reported that for the first time this winter, wind generated more power for Britain than all fossil fuels combined. It produced 39.4% of all electricity in the emerald isles, as opposed to 36.2% from fossil fuels.

In fact, the government says, “Renewable electricity generation reached a near record share of 50.9 percent of total generation in the first quarter of the year.” That’s right. A majority of British electricity is now produced by sustainable sources. In fact, if you count nuclear, the low-carbon energy sources provided about 61% of British electricity.

Some 19.5% of British electricity in Q1 was supplied by offshore wind, and 14.3% by onshore wind. Some 2.5% came from solar PV and 2.6% from hydro. Unfortunately, Britain counts “bioenergy” as a renewable, providing 12% of electricity; but sorry, friends, burning wood and biomass is not green. On the other hand, 11% of electricity is imported from France, and that is mainly from nuclear plants, which are relatively low carbon. So the 61% low-carbon statistic likely stands.

And it is a magnificent statistic at that, for a major industrial country to have its power be 61% low-carbon — something undreamt of even a decade ago. The below chart shows the welcome downturn in fossil fuels as a percentage of electricity generation:

H/t UK.gov .

The future clearly lies with the genuinely sustainable energy sources. The government says, “Solar PV accounted for 60 per cent of the new capacity and offshore wind a third.” Amazingly enough in cloudy Britain, new solar is growing faster than new wind. That statistic is now likely to change.

Coal use in Britain has fallen to almost nothing, and the government says that after October 1, the country will not use coal to generate electricity.. I noted how historic this achievement was, given Britain’s prominence in coal production and use: “ The world’s first coal-fired electric plant opened in London in 1882. It was the Edison Electric Light Station, at 57 Holborn Viaduct. It powered electric lights and wasn’t a commercial success. In the twentieth century until about 1965, almost all British electricity was fueled by coal, after which nuclear, hydro, and from the mid-1990s, natural gas, took large shares. Coal pollution in London grew so bad that in 1952 some 4,000 to 12,000 people are thought to have died in the Great Smog, when particulate matter in the air proved so heavy that it slashed visibility and fingers of it swirled into homes.”

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