British gas-fired power generation rose in 2022 as exports grew

Gas-fired power generation reached a three-year high in Britain last year as demand rose for the country to generate and export electricity.

Almost 39% of power generated in Britain came from gas-fired plants, compared with about 38% in 2021 and 35% in 2020, according to data from National Grid Plc’s Electricity System Operator. For the first time, more than a quarter of the power generated came from wind.

European countries have been trying to wean themselves off natural gas after Russia cut supplies to the continent in the aftermath of its invasion of Ukraine. However, extensive outages at French nuclear reactors pushed up demand for power imports from Britain. The country became a net exporter for the first time on record in 2022, according to an ESO spokesperson.

In 2022, Britain saw almost 49% of its power generated by zero-carbon sources including wind, nuclear and hydro. Coal fell to 1.5%, the lowest proportion on record, despite the grid operator committing hundreds of millions of pounds to some plants to stay open in case of an emergency shortfall this winter.