UK’s renewable energy generation breaks previous record

According to the most recent Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) data, provided by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero , the share of UK electricity generation from renewable technologies reached a new record high of 50.4% in 2024, up from 46.5% in 2023.

Generation from wind reached a record high, solar output matched the previous year’s record high, and bioenergy generation increased by 17%. Fossil fuel reached a record low of 31.8% of generation; and with coal generation ceasing in September 2024, gas remained the principal form of UK generation at 30.4%, slightly outpacing wind’s contribution of 29.2% of generation.

At 143.7TWh, overall renewable generation exceeded the record, set in 2023, by 5.1%. Offshore wind generation was down by 2.2% on the record levels of 2023 to 48.5TWh but was still the next-highest on record. Over the course of the year, capacity increased by 8.1%; this has included Moray West in Scotland, as well as the first stages of Dogger Bank (England) and NNG (Scotland), although output has been limited at some of the new sites due to connection issues. That said, generation from onshore wind was up by 6.9% to 34.7TWh — the third highest on record after 2020 and 2022. Generation had been relatively low in 2023 due to ‘outages and curtailment’.

Big increase for bioenergy
Solar PV generation was down by 1.9% on 2023. The decrease was due to 2024 being the least sunny year since these records began in 2001, although the lack of sunlight was partly offset by new capacity, which increased by nearly 13% over the course of the year. Hydro generation increased by 6.1% in 2024 to 5.8TWh, thanks to a small increase in average rainfall and new capacity (up 2.1% on 2023), although there has been little new capacity in recent years. Bioenergy saw the largest increase on last year, being up by nearly 17%, this largely driven by an increase in plant biomass generation of 5.6TWh (27%).

Despite a fall in generation, offshore wind continued to be the leading renewable technology in 2024, accounting for 58% of all wind generation and 34% of all renewable generation. Offshore first outstripped onshore generation in 2019, and although offshore capacity still lags onshore, the gap has continued to narrow, with the discrepancy between capacity and generation explained by a combination of stronger and more consistent coastal wind speeds, and offshore turbines tending to be newer and larger than onshore, often yielding a higher load factor — the ratio of how much electricity was generated as a proportion of the total generating capacity.