Fossil fuel plants contributed about a third of electricity supplies in 2023 and renewables a record 42%

The amount of electricity generated by the UK’s gas and coal power plants fell by 20% last year, with consumption of fossil fuels at its lowest level since 1957.

Not since Harold Macmillan was the UK prime minister and the Beatles’ John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time has the UK used less coal and gas.

The UK’s gas power plants last year generated 31% of the UK’s electricity, or 98 terawatt hours (TWh), according to a report by the industry journal Carbon Brief, while the UK’s last remaining coal plant produced enough electricity to meet just 1% of the UK’s power demand or 4TWh.

Fossil fuels were squeezed out of the electricity system by a surge in renewable energy generation combined with higher electricity imports from France and Norway and a long-term trend of falling demand.

  • HeartyBeast@kbin.social
    2·
    11 months ago

    It goes up and down. At peak times usually 5pm-7pm-ish it’s usually substantially more expensive than a standard tariff. So it only makes economic sense if you are either able to shift usage (cook dinner at 4pm) or can use your batteries to do a bit of arbitrage (buying power when cheap).

    You have to be a bit hands on, and potentially someone (like me) who finds it interesting

    You can get an idea of prices here

    https://agileprices.co.uk/

    The good news is they make it easy to go from agile to standard tariffs

    • leaskovski@kbin.social
      1·
      11 months ago

      So I have started the switch. Do I just email the intro code over to them, as I didn’t see a place to use?

      I have also been looking at my solis inverter and can see settings to control when the battery can be charged from the grid. At the moment, that is off, so if I switch, I should turn this on and charge from say 1am to 5am.

      • HeartyBeast@kbin.social
        1·
        11 months ago

        Oopsie - might be too late, I’m afraid. Here’s the referral link https://share.octopus.energy/dense-kiwi-26 - but I think you have to start the switch using this link. Customer service mighty be able to still give you the credit though if you explain and send them an e-mail.

        I’m not too familar with Solis - does it have an app or web interface to configure? Easier than crawling about in the loft twice a day to configure using the front panel.

        • leaskovski@kbin.social
          1·
          11 months ago

          Switch done, and I managed to get your referral on there, so expect £50 soon! I also managed to find details on what settings to adjust on the inverter, and bonus points, I figured out how I can do it via their web portal… what will be good if I can adjust those settings via my Home Assistant server integration!