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Low wind speeds have pushed the UK’s power prices to their highest level in two years on Tuesday, with wind generation expected to plunge to the lowest level on Wednesday since September 2023, Bloomberg models show.
The day-ahead power price in the UK hit $296.28 (£241.49) per megawatt-hour (MWh) on Tuesday, with the day-ahead price for the peak evening demand soaring to $760.68 (£620.00) per MWh.
With wind now generating the largest share of UK power generation, periods of low wind speeds tend to result in power price spikes.
Wind power overtook natural gas to become – for the first time ever – the UK’s largest source of electricity generation for a full year in 2024, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) said earlier this month.
Last year, wind was the largest source of electricity generation for the first year ever, accounting for 30%, NESO said in its 2024 electricity review.
In addition, renewables generated more than 50% of Britain’s electricity for four consecutive quarters to the third quarter of 2024 for the first time, averaging 51% during 2024, the system operator noted.
The share of natural gas averaged 26.3% last year, while nuclear accounted for 14%, and solar represented 5% of the UK power generation in 2024.
Last year saw a monumental moment in Britain’s electricity system with the switching-off of the last remaining coal power plant in the country. The plant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar was shut at the end of September, ending 142 years of coal-fired electricity generation in the UK. Britain became the first G7 country to have phased out coal.
While its power system is becoming greener, the UK now sees power spikes when demand is high in the winter while wind generation is low.
Electricity prices in many countries in northwest Europe have jumped in recent months due to falling wind power generation.
