Britain Expands Gas-Fired Power Use in Q2

Britain’s use of gas in power generation was up 2% yr/yr in the second quarter, despite weaker electricity demand, thanks to lower gas prices and nuclear outages.

Some 5.24mn metric tons of oil equivalent (toe) of gas were consumed in the sector in April to June, up from 5.14mn toe a year earlier, data published by the government’s department for business, energy and industrial strategy on August 29 shows. The share of gas in total fuel use crept up to 49.8% from 45.8%.

Overall fuel use in generation fell from 11.23mn toe to 10.53mn toe, as a result of lower consumption and cutbacks in nuclear supply. Nuclear fuel use slumped 21% to 2.82mn toe as a result of outages at the Hunterston B, Dungeness B and Sizewell B nuclear power plants (NPPs), as well as refueling operations at the Hartlepool and Heysham stations.

Coal use also dropped 61% yr/yr to a record low of 130,000 mt toe, equivalent to 1.2% of total fuel consumed. In the same period last year, 330,000 toe of coal was burned, accounting for 2.9% of total fuel. Beyond lower gas prices, coal burning was also affected by higher carbon prices.

“Coal-generated energy will soon be a distant memory on our path to becoming a net zero emissions economy,” a department spokesperson said. “This new record low is a result of our world-leading low carbon energy industry, which provided more than half of our energy last year and continues to go from strength to strength, as we aim to end our contribution to climate change entirely by 2050."

A key milestone in the road to zero emissions by 2050 is the UK’s planned phase-out of coal-fired power by 2025.

Use of bioenergy grew by 4% to 1.25mn toe, while wind power’s contribution increased 20% to 890,000 toe. Solar energy was unchanged at 120,000 toe, while hydropower dipped from 60,000 to 50,000 toe.