New statistics published today by the Government confirm that renewable energy accounted for over half of the UK’s total electricity generation for the first time last year, generating a record annual percentage of the country’s electricity in 2024, and outstripping fossil fuels for the fourth time in five years. Onshore and offshore wind generated their highest annual percentages of electricity ever.
Renewables provided 50.4% of the UK’s electricity last year (up from 46.4% in 2023), compared to 31.8% from fossil fuels, mainly gas (down from 36.7% in 2023).
Renewables generated a new high of 143.7 terawatt hours (TWh), surpassing the previous record for the amount of electricity generated (135.8TWh) set in 2023. Fossil fuels continued to decline and produced 90.5TWh in 2024.
The Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), states that the rise is due to increases in offshore wind and solar generation capacity. The annual report also notes that the share of generation from low carbon sources (renewables and nuclear) rose to a record 64.7% in 2024 (184.3TWh), up from 60.3% in 2023.
Wind remains the UK’s biggest source of clean power, generating a record 29.2% of our electricity in 2024 (a new high of 83.3TWh), beating the previous record of 28.1% (82.3TWh) in 2023. Wind provided 58% of all renewable electricity last year.
A record 17% of the UK’s electricity was produced by offshore wind (48.5TWh) beating 16.9% in 2023, while onshore wind provided a record 12.2% (34.7TWh) compared to 11.1% in 2023).
Solar provided 5% (14.4TWh) and nuclear 14.25% (40.6TWh) of the UK’s electricity in 2024.
Commenting on today’s statistics, RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Jane Cooper said:
'As today’s record-breaking figures show, renewables now account for the majority of our electricity generation and stand firmly as the backbone of the UK’s energy system. This is good news for billpayers, as renewables provide electricity at stable prices. Now we need to make sure we don’t just continue to build new wind, solar and nuclear plants, but we reform our electricity markets and grid so that billpayers can get maximum benefit from the clean energy rollout.
'We have a golden opportunity to build on this historic milestone by attracting record levels of investment in wind and solar farms in this year’s clean energy auction, which will open next week. Up to £53 billion in private investment could be secured this year to in new offshore wind projects alone.'
Source: RenewableUK
