This week, a new British record for solar power generation was achieved two days in a row, with generation reaching 14,414 MW at 11:30 am on the morning of April 7.
The day before, the record for solar energy generation was set at 14,082 MW at noon on April 6.
At the time of the record generation on April 7, solar power generation covered 35% of Britain’s electricity consumption.
This comes at a time when the government has approved the largest Nationally Important Power Generation Infrastructure Project (NSIP) of its time in power, the 800MW Springwell solar power station. The project should come online in 2029.
This year, Solar capacity is expected to grow by 50% annuallywith 5-5.5 GW.
As the government aims to achieve clean energy by 2030, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) plans to run the UK electricity grid for periods without gas generation during the summer. This will be possible thanks to the low-carbon generation that has come online in recent years.
This has become a particularly pressing issue as the conflict in the Middle East has caused global energy prices to rise, and Britain’s dependence on international energy supplies has caused consumer and industrial bills to skyrocket as a result.
According to Solar Energy UK, which reported the record generation, the average daily wholesale price has recently fallen due to a large share of wind and solar generation, reducing the extent to which natural gas and electricity prices were linked.
Along with utility-scale developments coming online, so has the government announced a series of measures to guarantee residential installations also contribute to achieving energy security and reducing the energy bill.
