Q4 2016 report

by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

This issue sees low carbon generation break new records whilst France’s interconnector and nuclear plants break down. 

Low carbon generation averaged 40% over the quarter, and hit a new record of 81% during Christmas (see Article 2), demonstrating that it is possible to run the system with very little fossil fuels. Wind output is slightly down on last year because of the weather and new projects are beginning to dry up, but peak wind output exceeded 10 GW for the first time (see Article 3).

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

2016 saw Britain’s cleanest Christmas: up to 81% of electricity was supplied by low-carbon sources as Santa delivered his presents. 

The share of nuclear, biomass, hydro, wind and solar did not fall below 60% during the three days between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

Wind power surpassed 10 GW for the first time in Britain, but output over the quarter is down 7% on the previous year, and fewer new projects were developed. 

Storm Barbara brought high winds across the whole country, raising peak wind output to 10.8 GW on the 23^rd of December, beating the previous record of 9.4 GW set back in 2014. Overall, wind spent 24 hours producing over 10 GW during December, but equally it spent as many hours producing less than 0.7 GW. While the wind never stops blowing over the whole country, it does vary over nearly the whole range from 0–100% output (see below left).

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

Q4 was the first time in six years that Britain was a net exporter of electricity to France. 

Britain exported more power in one week of November than over the whole of 2014 and 2015 combined. The French nuclear industry went through its “worst situation ever” with up to twenty nuclear reactors offline for safety tests, leaving the country at risk of a capacity shortage in the event of severe cold weather.

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

British power prices are becoming ever more volatile, and peaked at £1,528 / MWh during the quarter, their highest for at least a decade. 

Prices also spent 19 hours at or below £0 / MWh at times of high renewable output.

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

2016 was a dramatic year for Britain, not least for its electricity system. 

Generation from coal fell 61% from the previous year. Gas was up by 51% and low-carbon generation reached its highest ever share. This was the largest annual swing in fuel shares since the miners’ strike of 1984, and the largest ever in percentage terms.

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

Generation in Q4 was dominated by gas, which supplied nearly half of all electricity.

Coal recovered slightly from its historic low in Quarter 3, but only provided 10% of generation. This is down from 21% in Q4 2015 and 34% in Q4 2014.

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