Great Britain has broken the maximum wind generation record, producing nearly 24 Gigawatts (GW) of electricity, which is enough to power over 23 million homes across the country.
Between 13:30 and 14:00 on 25 March, wind generated a new high of 23,880 Megawatts (MW) of electricity, beating the maximum generation record of 23,825MW set on 5 December last year.
At the time of the record, 53.5% of electricity came from wind power – 41.1% transmission and 12.4 embedded, 20.4% solar, 10% nuclear, 9.6% trading over interconnectors, 2.4% biomass, 2.3% gas, 1.5% from other, and 0.4% from hydro.
Slightly earlier at midday, the solar and wind fleet produced 34 GW, squeezing more expensive gas-fired generation out to provide just over a gigawatt (1358 MW) – the lowest since April 2024 and making up only 2.3% of the power mix at the time.
Clean low-carbon energy now produces around 60% of our electricity, which is up from just 3% in the year 2000. Britain now has five of the largest wind farms in the world, and in July Britain hit a new solar power record, generating 14GW – which was nearly 40% of the electricity mix at that time.
The UK Government aims to double onshore wind and quadruple offshore wind by 2030 as part of its plan for clean power.
Kayte O’Neill, Chief Operating Officer, National Energy System Operator (NESO) said:
“This is a world-leading record, showing that our national electricity system can run safely and securely on large quantities of renewables generated right here in Britain.
“We’ve come on leaps and bounds in wind generation in recent years. It really shows what is possible, and I look forward to seeing if we can hit another clean energy milestone in the months ahead: running Britain’s electricity grid entirely zero carbon.”
Image from Shutterstock
