Great Britain’s power grid is on track to see its first periods of zero-carbon electricity in just four years’ time, National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) has confirmed.
The ESO had already announced its ambition to make the electricity system ready for zero-carbon operation by 2025 when it became a legally separate entity within the National Grid group in April 2019.
“We’re confident that by 2025 we will have periods of 100 per cent zero carbon electricity, with no fossil fuels used to generate power in Great Britain,” said ESO executive director Fintan Slye.
“As with coal-free operation of the grid these may be short periods at first but will still be a significant milestone on the road to net zero, and these periods will quickly extend.”
In a new report highlighting Great Britain’s progress in decarbonising its electricity system ahead of the COP26 climate summit in November, the ESO noted a number of recent records: the first year in which zero-carbon generation outstripped fossil fuel generation (2019); the highest ever share of zero-carbon power (85.1 per cent on 17 August 2019); the highest ever level of zero carbon output (28.8GW on 12 February 2020); and the lowest ever carbon intensity of the power grid (39gCO2/kWh on 5 April 2021).
The ESO said it considered wind, solar, nuclear and hydro generation to all be sources of zero-carbon power but not biomass.
The body has been revamping its processes and services to enable the zero-carbon operation of the power grid, including trialling a new stability service incorporating the inertia traditionally provided by synchronous coal and gas generators, and gradually replacing its existing frequency response services with a suite of three new products – the first being Dynamic Containment.
It said the electricity market had already been able to offer close to 100 per cent zero-carbon electricity on 23 May 2020 but its control room had to intervene to maintain system inertia, replacing some wind and hydro output with gas and biomass generation and bringing the zero-carbon share of the electricity mix down to 83 per cent over the day.
Slye said: “The growth in renewable sources of power, with record levels of wind and solar, means there will be enough zero carbon generation to meet demand. A key challenge is ensuring the electricity system is ready to accommodate that power.
“Our engineers are deploying innovative, world-first approaches to transform how the power system operates, such as removing the need to draw on fossil-fuel-based generation for critical stabilizing properties.
“There’s still plenty of hard work ahead but it’s an exciting time and getting to this position has been a huge team effort from everyone across the entire energy industry.”
Energy minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “The UK is leading the world in cleaning up our energy system and we continue to break new records in wind and solar power, while coal has all but been eliminated from the grid.
“Today’s report shows that the industry and the public’s hard work to drive up renewables is paying off and we are on the cusp of achieving periods of 100 per cent zero carbon electricity generation with no fossil fuels used.
“There’s still some way to go, which is why we are powering forward with our ambitious commitments to increase renewable power across the UK and invest in new, green technologies so that we build back greener from the pandemic and tackle climate change.”