Britain Now Has More Green Capacity Than Any Other Power Source

(Bloomberg) -- Green energy connected to Britain’s electricity grid increased to a record 42 gigawatts in the third quarter, giving it the largest share of the nation’s energy mix, according to Drax Electric Insights.

The roll out of renewables has now eclipsed the so-called “dash-for-gas” in the 1990s with an average of 3.8 gigawatts of capacity being added each year compared with 2.4 gigawatts of natural gas at its peak, according to the report commissioned by Drax Group Plc and compiled by academics at Imperial College London.

Fossil-fuel capacity has declined as old power stations are retired. A quarter of the country’s coal-fired output has closed in the last year, leaving just six generators in the country, according to the report.

Fossil fuel and renewables capacity aren’t directly comparable as supply from the sun or wind can be sporadic. The cost of balancing this intermittency on the network rose to a 10-year high of 3.8 million pounds ($5 million) a day during the third quarter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rachel Morison in London at rmorison@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Andrew Reierson, Jonathan Tirone

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