Q3 2024: Capacity and production statistics

Britain’s generation mix during Quarter 3 was very similar to the previous three months. Wind was the largest source, producing just over one-quarter of supply, followed by gas at just under one-quarter. The carbon emissions from electricity production again hovered just above the 100 g/kWh milestone, averaging 104 g this quarter, versus 103 g last quarter.

Gas generation fell by one third year-on-year, pushed down by increased imports from abroad, and production from biomass, solar PV and nuclear. Electricity demand was higher than this time last year, for the fourth quarter in a row.

Power demand as grown by 1.7% year-on-year, in part because prices have fallen, meaning households and businesses will cut back less on their consumption. Looking at longer-term growth, battery electric vehicles surpassed a 20% share of new car sales for the first time in August, and heat pumps have reached record sales this year. The growing stock of electric vehicles and heating will reverse the decades-long decline in British electricity demand.

Britain’s electricity supply mix in the third quarter of 2024.

Installed capacity and electricity produced by each technology. [3] [4]

[3] Other sources give different values because of the types of plant they consider. For example, BEIS Energy Trends records an additional 0.7 GW of hydro, 0.6 GW of biomass and 3 GW of waste-to-energy plants. These plants and their output are not visible to the electricity transmission system and so cannot be reported on here.

[4] We include an estimate of the installed capacity of smaller storage devices which are not monitored by the electricity market operator.