Renewables generate half of UK's electricity in 2024 in new record high
Official figures show wind, solar, hydro and biomass generated 50.4% of UK power last year, up from 46.5% in 2023, due to record high levels of wind and bioenergy power.
At the same time fossil fuels – mainly gas – fell to a record low share of 31.8% of generation, with Britain's last coal plant shutting in September 2024, the figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero show.
The share from low carbon sources, which includes nuclear as well as renewable sources rose to nearly two thirds of overall generation (64.7%), a new record high.
But gas remained the single biggest source of UK power, at 30.4%, still slightly outpacing wind's contribution of 29.2% of generation – although that is likely to change as more wind farms come online.
Greenpeace UK's head of climate, Mel Evans, described the renewables figures as 'fantastic news'.
'More of our electricity than ever before is produced by the wind and the sun as we continue to move away from dirty gas.
'It's also what we are seeing globally as last year renewables made up over nine tenths of new electricity capacity.'
But she said that with energy bills 'sky high', the figures highlighted the absurdity of continuing to allow a smaller and smaller proportion of gas to dictate the price of power.
Under the current system the price that consumers pay for their electricity is mostly set by the cost of gas, driving up the cost of what households have to pay for power from renewables and nuclear.
'Right now, expensive gas power is pushing up energy bills for households and businesses,' Ms Evans said.
'Until we reform this system and stop gas from setting electricity prices, we're not going to enjoy the full benefits and lower prices that more renewable power can bring.'
The figures also showed oil production fell by 8.8% and natural gas production was down 10% with output of both fossil fuels falling to record low levels.
Production of oil and gas is 75% below the peak seen in 1999, reflecting the decline in output from the UK's shrinking North Sea reserves.
Demand for coal fell in 2024, by 52% to 2.1 million tonnes compared to 2023, as the fuel mix shifted towards other sources of fuel, particularly for electricity generation.
The figures also reveal aviation fuel demand rose by 9.4% in 2024, and is now 1.3% above pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Mistral in talks with VC firms, MGX to raise funds at $10 billion valuation, FT reports
(Reuters) -French artificial intelligence startup Mistral is in talks with investors, venture capital firms and Abu Dhabi's MGX to raise $1 billion at a valuation of $10 billion, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company launched in June Europe's first AI reasoning model, which uses logical thinking to create a response, as it tries to keep pace with American and Chinese rivals at the forefront of AI development. The funding would accelerate the commercial rollout of Mistral's Le Chat chatbot and support continued development of its large language models, the report said. MGX and Mistral did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. The startup raised 600 million euros in a Series B funding round that valued the company at 5.8 billion euros last year. Industry observers consider Mistral as Europe's best-positioned AI company to rival Silicon Valley leaders, though the French firm has yet to achieve comparable market traction or revenue scale. Mistral counts Nvidia, Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners among its investors.
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why Robinhood's CEO Touted Tokenization 11 Times on Its Q2 Earning Call
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev referenced tokenization nearly a dozen times during the company's second-quarter earnings broadcast on Wednesday, highlighting how the once-esoteric term is becoming a cornerstone of the retail brokerage's crypto strategy. In total, Tenev referenced tokenization 11 times, while also mentioning Robinhood's stock tokens on a handful of occasions. The digital assets, which offer synthetic exposure to private companies like SpaceX and OpenAI, were unveiled for European users in June, alongside company ambitions to build its own Ethereum layer-2 scaling network. During the hour-long broadcast, Tenev invoked tokenization within five minutes, a term used to describe the process of representing real-world assets using tokens on a blockchain. In some ways, the episode mirrored Facebook parent Meta's pivot away from the metaverse in 2023, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg referenced artificial intelligence 20 times on an earnings broadcast. Tenev described tokenization as 'the biggest innovation in capital markets in over a decade,' saying investors will benefit from 24/7 trading, instant settlement, and self custody. Robinhood can make 'all sorts of assets' accessible for users that weren't feasible before, he said. Robinhood's stock price has nearly tripled this year, rising 179% year-to-date to $104 on Thursday, according to Yahoo Finance. Despite a cooldown in crypto trading revenue, the firm posted stronger-than-expected sales and profits in the second quarter. Crypto exchanges Binance and now-defunct FTX dabbled in tokenized stock trading during the pandemic-era crypto boom, but the umbrella term faded into obscurity amid regulatory heat until BlackRock CEO Larry Fink touted tokenization as 'the next generation for markets' in 2022. Now, with the SEC committed to advancing tokenization frameworks under a crypto-friendly White House, Robinhood is positioning itself as a major player in the space, and one that could potentially benefit from the same regulatory tailwinds as crypto-native firms for years to come. Robinhood CEO Acknowledges OpenAI Crypto Stock 'Controversy'—But Is Doubling Down Asked by an analyst for feedback that Robinhood is getting on tokenizing private assets, Tenev said that it's addressed a mainstream criticism toward digital assets, namely the claim that they're not tied to anything with "fundamental utility' and are ephemeral like memes. Aside from customers' apparent demand for stock tokens, Tenev said the product's rollout demonstrated 'the power of crypto technology and show[ed] a roadmap to what Robinhood could be if it was rebuilt from the ground up on crypto rails.' But not everyone was satisfied with Robinhood's stock tokens, including OpenAI, which slammed the product as an unauthorized attempt to tokenize its equity. Not long after, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission warned firms that their tokenized offerings must comply with securities laws, and a blockchain isn't a valid way of getting around that. Tenev told Decrypt last week that he thinks the regulator's warning was not specific to Robinhood, and on Wednesday, he noted that 'some things need to happen' regulatory-wise to unlock tokenization's true potential, including a look at investor accreditation laws. At the end of the day, Robinhood said that it's still in the first phase of its tokenization strategy, which involves creating a sustainable supply of stock tokens. The second phase will involve getting the tokens to trade on Bitstamp, a crypto exchange that Robinhood acquired this year. Phase three, Tenev said, will allow users to plug stock tokens into decentralized finance, or DeFi protocols. DeFi applications allow users to self-custody their assets and transact natively on blockchain networks. 'We have the technical capabilities to do all of this,' he said. 'It's just a question of going through the regulatory process, and we think that's basically the optimal path.' Robinhood did not immediately respond to Decrypt. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Google (GOOGL) Pledges Support for EU AI Rules While Warning Against Overregulation
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:) is one of the . On July 30, Alphabet Google's global affairs president said in a blog post that it will sign the European Union's code of practice to help companies comply with the bloc's landmark artificial intelligence rules. The voluntary code of practice strives to offer legal certainty to signatories on how to meet requirements under the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). 'We do so with the hope that this code, as applied, will promote European citizens' and businesses' access to secure, first-rate AI tools as they become available.' -Kent Walker, who is also Alphabet's chief legal officer. In other news, CNBC reported how Google executives are pushing their employees to be innovative with their use of artificial intelligence as the tech giant looks for ways to cut down costs. CEO Sundar Pichai and executive Brian Saluzzo conveyed the message at a meeting last week. 'Anytime you go through a period of extraordinary investment, you respond by adding a lot of headcount, right? But in this AI moment, I think we have to accomplish more by taking advantage of this transition to drive higher productivity.' Alphabet announced in its earnings report last week that it plans on spending spend $85 billion on capital expenditures in 2025, up from the previous $75 billion. 'We are competing with other companies in the world. There will be companies which will become more efficient through this moment in terms of employee productivity, which is why I think it's important to focus on that.' Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company wholly owning the internet giant Google, amongst other businesses. While we acknowledge the potential of GOOGL as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 Must-Watch AI Stocks on Wall Street and Disclosure: None. Sign in to access your portfolio
