New statistics released today by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in its DUKES ‘bible’ confirm that renewables generated a record annual amount of electricity in 2022, outstripping fossil fuels for a second year. Onshore and offshore wind also generated their highest annual volumes of electricity ever.

Renewables provided 41.5 per cent of the UK’s electricity last year (135TWh), compared to 40.8 per cent from fossil fuels (132.8TWh). This beats the previous record for the amount of electricity generated by renewables (134.3TWh) set in 2020, when renewables outperformed fossil fuels for the first time. A decade ago, the figure stood at 13.8 per cent, meaning that renewable electricity production has trebled over the last ten years.

DUKES, or more formally the Digest of UK Energy Statistics, states that the increase is due to high output from wind and solar generators, substantial increases in wind generation capacity and more favourable weather conditions than 2021. The annual report also notes that the share of generation from fossil fuels fell by 1.8 per cent compared to the previous year as renewables reduced the need for fossil fuel generation.

The results are impressive, although it should be remembered that energy demand has declined a little over the decade, as more efficient applications and more efficient use, such as higher insulation, have helped. None-the-less, in cumulative absolute capacity, generation continues to grow, despite a slowdown during COVID, and renewable capacity increased by 7.7 per cent (3.8 GW) in 2022, the highest growth rate since 2018.

Wind remains the UK’s biggest source of clean power, generating a record 24.7 per cent, with 13.8 per cent of the UK’s electricity produced by offshore and 10.8 per cent from onshore wind.

Commenting on today’s statistics, RenewableUK’s chief executive Dan McGrail said: “It’s great to see renewables setting new records across the board, generating record amounts of clean power last year, making us less dependent on expensive gas imports at the very time when fossil fuel costs rocketed up, causing an energy crisis which we’re still grappling with.”

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