Eight things that went right this week, including big energy and health wins
Green energy has overtaken gas as the UK’s leading source of electricity this winter, sparing the country from an even worse energy crisis. That’s according to analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), which said offshore wind was leading the charge.
“Wind has chosen a good year to overtake gas given how expensive gas has become and questions around its security of supply,” said Jess Ralston, head of energy at ECIU.
According to the ECIU, power generated by renewables reached 34TWh (terawatt hours) between 1 October 2022 and 13 January 2023 – 2TWh more than gas produced. Generating the same amount of power using gas-burning power plants, it claimed, would have required the equivalent of 7.4m homes’ gas use for the entire winter.
However, the ECIU warned that investment in energy infrastructure and battery technology to store surplus green energy was lagging. “Speeding up investment in our power grid will enable more of this cheap, natural energy to flow to homes, so bringing down bills,” said Ralston.
Image: Esse de Meulenaere