LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) – Renewable power such as wind and solar provided a record 52.5% of Britain’s electricity generation in 2025, government data showed on Thursday, but fossil fuel use also rose.
Britain has a target to largely decarbonise its electricity sector by 2030, which will require a huge scale-up of renewable power.
* Renewable generation in 2025 reached a record 152.5terawatt hours, up 5.7% from 2024, driven by record output fromoffshore wind, solar and bioenergy, data from the Department forEnergy Security and Net Zero showed. * Gas power generation rose by 4.7% and was the largestsingle source of electricity supplies, providing 31.5% of totalgeneration. * Offshore wind generation increased by 6.6% in 2025 as morecapacity was added. * Higher gas and renewables plugged a drop in nucleargeneration which fell by 12% to 35.9 TWh, with older plantsdecommissioned and increased outages across the ageing fleet. * Last year was the first in more than 140 years with nocoal-fired power generation in the country after the last plantclosed in 2024. * Net electricity imports fell 11% from 2024’s record highto 29.7 TWh. * Total electricity demand increased slightly, up 0.2% to320.2 TWh. * Separately, the government said on Thursday thatgreenhouse gas emissions fell 2% in Britain in 2025, withemissions from the electricity sector down 1%.
(Reporting By Susanna Twidale; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)