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Britain’s electricity system has undergone such radical changes that carbon emissions from the sector are now so low the ‘dirtiest’ hour of generation is cleaner than the average hour from just a few years ago.

The latest Electric Insights report, produced by researchers at Imperial College London in collaboration with Drax, analysed data from January to March 2017.  It reveals the dirtiest hour for generation during this winter period was at 8.30pm on the 16^th January.

On that cold and calm winter evening 424 grams of CO₂ were released per kWh (g/kWh). Compare this to the average hour from 2009 – 2013 when 471 per kWh (g/kWh) was being produced.  In fact, during the first quarter of 2017, emissions dropped by 10 per cent compared to the same period in 2016 and a massive 33 per cent from Q1 in 2015.

While this year’s mild winter played an important role in reducing emissions, the reduction in the use of coal should not be underestimated. Policy levers like the carbon tax continued to push coal off the system and the dramatic growth in renewables also reduced its role.

In January to March 2017:

• Output from coal generation fell by 30% compared to the same quarter in 2016
• Renewables hit new energy production records: wind – 11.3 TWh, biomass – 4.4 TWh, hydro – 1.6 TWh
• Solar hit a new record peak output: 7.67 GW

Dr Iain Staffell, of Imperial College London, said: “The dirtiest hour in the first quarter of 2017, in terms of carbon intensity from electricity, saw 424g of CO₂ produced per kWh – that would have seemed clean just a few years ago. The average from 2009 to 2013 was 471g/kWh.

“However, coal output – largely driven by the carbon tax – has fallen 82% in the last four years and has been replaced by mid-carbon gas, low carbon biomass and imports, as well as zero carbon wind and solar.

“Together these have driven decarbonisation in line with, or even slightly ahead of, the country’s targets – which are the most ambitious in the world.”

The rise of intermittent renewables like wind and solar, mean that gas, coal and biomass fired power stations are often not required throughout the day. They are instead being used to power up and down according to the weather and peaks in demand, making flexibility more important than ever before.

While in the winter months we are witnessing record breaking changes in the generation mix, the new data from the first quarter of 2017 suggests that this summer is likely to witness an even more dramatic shift.

In the last weekend of March – for the first time ever – we saw lower daytime than night time demand on the grid. This phenomenon was largely driven by the dramatic rise in solar. Both solar panels and small scale onshore wind are ‘invisible’ from the grid.  This means that effectively what they produce reduces what the grid is required to deliver.

During March, demand on the transmission system was 2.3GW higher at 9am than at 1pm, when solar panels achieve maximum output.  Dr Staffell predicts that based on previous data this gap is set to double this summer (June).

Dr Staffell explained that whilst this quarter was a record-breaker for all renewables, including solar, the sun often isn’t shining at the very times when the country needs the most power – when factories and offices are starting up in the morning – and when people settle down at home for the evening.

Dr Staffell said: “How we manage this changing pattern in demand requires a major change in how power stations operate.

“Solar output is still relatively hard to forecast in advance. Technologies that are flexible and can be turned on and off quickly, such as gas or battery storage will help accommodate these changes.”

Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO, said: “We continue to see dramatic changes in both the generation mix and new demands on the system, making reliable, flexible power increasingly important.  Seasonal changes are highlighting the changing role that power stations are now playing.

“This new role is set to increase and we will need more nimble technologies which can be up and running at the flick of a switch – like the rapid response gas power stations we are developing.

“This kind of flexible and responsive power generation is vital during times of system stress, such as when the sun isn’t shining or the wind doesn’t blow – it will also enable more intermittent renewables to come onto the grid, replacing coal and making the whole system cleaner.”

Electric Insights will be published once a quarter, and is supported by an interactive website – ElectricInsights.co.uk – which provides live data from 2009 until the present. The data sources and methodology used in Electric Insights are listed in full on the website.

Commissioned by Drax Group, owner and operator of the UK’s largest power station and Europe’s biggest biomass-fuelled power plant, the report will be delivered independently by Dr Iain Staffell from Imperial College London, facilitated by the College’s consultancy company – Imperial Consultants.

The full report can be read here: https://electricinsights.co.uk/Drax_Electric_Insights_Report_2017_Q1.pdf 

ENDS

Notes to editors

• Electric Insights reports that the carbon intensity of electricity averaged 284g/kWh during the first quarter of 2017. It ranged from just 102g/kWh on a windy Sunday night in March to 424g/kWh on a cold and calm January evening when coal output was high.
• The lowest carbon intensity hour was 4.30am on March 19 when there was 0.78GW of coal generation, 4.4GW gas, 7GW nuclear and 12.0GW renewables.
• Previously, minimum demand was always during the night and daytime demand never came within 5GW of the night time minimum. However, this gap narrowed to 2.4GW in 2015 and on March 25^th 2017 it disappeared completely. This meant demand on the national grid was lower during the daytime than it was over night for the first time ever.
• All forms of renewables had a record breaking first quarter of 2017:
  • Wind farms recorded their highest quarterly output, generating 11.3TWh over the quarter, beating coal output for the last consecutive four quarters.
  • Biomass also hit a new high of 4.4TWh, meaning the fleet ran at 95% of full capacity over the quarter, higher than any other technology has achieved in the last decade.
  • Hydro hit 1.6TWh – 4% above its previous best in 2014.
  • Solar reached peak output of 7.67GW at the end of March – enough to power a fifth of the country at the time.

About Electric Insights

• Electric Insights Quarterly was commissioned by Drax and is delivered independently by a team of academics from Imperial College London, facilitated by the College’s consultancy company – Imperial Consultants. The report analyses raw data that are made publicly available by National Grid and Elexon, which run the electricity and balancing market respectively. Released four times a year, it will focus on supply and demand, prices, emissions, the performance of the various generation technologies and the network that connects them.
• Along with Dr Iain Staffell, the team from Imperial included Professors Richard Green and Tim Green, experts in energy economics and electrical engineering, and Dr Rob Gross who contributed expertise in energy policy. The work to date has revealed scope for further research in this area, to inform both government and organisations within the energy industry.
• The quarterly reports are backed by an interactive website electricinsights.co.uk which provides live data from 2009 until the present. It was designed by The Economist Group’s independent data design agency, Signal Noise.

About Drax

Drax Group plc plays a vital role in helping change the way energy is generated, supplied and used as the UK moves to a low carbon future. Drax operates the largest power station in the UK, based at Selby, North Yorkshire and supplies 7 percent of the country’s electricity needs. The energy firm converted from burning coal to become a predominantly biomass-fuelled electricity generator. Drax is the biggest single site renewable generator in the UK and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.  Its 2,300-strong staff operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.

The Group includes:

Drax Biomass, based in the US and manufactures compressed wood pellets produced from sustainably managed working forests.

Haven Power, based in Ipswich, providing businesses with electricity.

Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, providing electricity and gas to businesses.

Billington Bioenergy, based in Liverpool with depots across the UK, is one of the leading distributors of wood pellets for sustainable heating in the UK.

For more information visit www.drax.com/uk

Contacts

Ali Lewis
Drax
01757 612 165
[email protected]

Lynda Stamford
Imperial Consultants
020 7594 2069
[email protected]

Making magnetic slime, playing ‘static tennis’ and racing gas-propelled cars are just some of the fun activities children can enjoy during a brand new family event organised by Drax to celebrate British Science Week.

The free outdoor event – “A Bit of Science for a Change!” explores the theme of changing states of matter and will take place within the woods at the Skylark Centre and Nature Reserve between 11am and 3pm on Sunday 19 March.

Children use a map to locate a series of science stations hidden around the nature reserve and then answer questions to earn the equipment and materials needed to complete fun science-based challenges investigating the changing states of liquids, gases and solids.

Drax visitor centre co-ordinator, Jane Breach said:

“This is the first event Drax has hosted as part of British Science Week and we’ve come up with a number of ‘hands-on’ challenges designed to appeal to children of all ages and abilities. We hope this will be a great opportunity for families to come together, enjoy our beautiful nature reserve and learn something along the way.”

She added:

“Discovering how to make a CD hover above the ground and create magnetic slime are just some of the exciting activities planned. For our more competitive participants we’ve even created a Top Gear-style leader board to record the furthest distance achieved by gas-propelled cars!”

Drax has a long tradition of supporting education and helping children in their STEM studies (science, technology, engineering and maths) and recently launched ‘Project Reinvent’ – a secondary schools’ challenge to develop an idea using STEM learning to improve their local community.

Entry to “A Bit of Science for a Change!” is free and there is no need to pre-book. Picnics are permitted on designated areas of the nature reserve. For more information call 01757 612797 or email [email protected].

Editor’s Notes

British Science Week 2017 runs from the 10 to the 19 March. It is a 10-day programme of science, technology, engineering and maths events and activities across the UK organised by the British Science Association (BSA) for people of all ages.

BSA is a charity, founded in 1831. Its mission is to support, grow and diversify the community of people interested and involved in science. For further information visit www.britishscienceassociation.org.

About Drax

Drax Group plc plays a vital role in helping change the way energy is generated, supplied and used as the UK moves to a low carbon future. Drax operates the largest power station in the UK and supplies up to 8 percent of the country’s electricity needs. The energy firm converted from burning coal to become a predominantly biomass-fuelled electricity generator. Drax is the biggest single site renewable generator in the UK and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.  Its 2,300-strong staff operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.

The Group includes:

Drax Biomass, based in the US and manufactures compressed wood pellets produced from sustainably managed working forests.

Haven Power, based in Ipswich, providing businesses with electricity.

Opus Energy, based in Oxford and Northampton, England, and Cardiff, Wales, providing electricity and gas to businesses.

Billington Bioenergy, based in Liverpool with depots across the UK, is one of the leading distributors of wood pellets for sustainable heating in the UK.

For more information visit www.drax.com/uk

During the last quarter of 2016 carbon emissions from Britain’s power sector fell to their lowest level for 60 years as more coal came off the system making way for renewables.

The new figures were revealed in the latest Electric Insights quarterly report produced by researchers at Imperial College London in collaboration with Drax.

2016 saw the most dramatic shift in the make-up of electricity generation since the 1984 miners’ strike. Coal generation fell 61% from the previous year as a mixture of low gas prices and the Carbon Price Floor continued to force it off the system.  Gas generation was up by more than 50%

The September-December period saw low carbon sources provide an average of 40% of Britain’s electricity needs over the quarter, peaking at a record 81% high over the Christmas period.

Wind output was low – over the quarter it was 7% down on the same period in 2015. This winter has seen fewer large storms, resulting in lower average wind speeds compared to previous years. Wind speeds in Q4 2016 were down 15% on 2015, the lowest since 2012.

Despite this, when Storm Barbara passed through just before Christmas, it enabled wind power to pass the 10GW barrier for the first time in Britain, beating the previous record of 9.4GW set in 2014.  However, wind farms also spent a whole day producing on average, less than 0.7GW – an output of just 5% of their installed capacity.

Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO said:

“These figures highlight a truly seismic shift in the balance of power.  Coal continues to disappear at a dramatic rate and we can see the impact of intermittent renewables which have been affected by dramatic weather events.

“Low gas prices and the Carbon Price Floor are forcing coal off the system and helping to ensure the UK is on track to meet its carbon targets for the power generation industry.

“It’s essential the UK’s energy system is supported by the right mix of power generation. Coal-to-biomass conversions and gas peaking plants are the best way to get coal off the system quickly and cost effectively whilst ensuring security of supply.”

Dr Iain Staffell, of Imperial College London, said:

“These figures clearly show that the Carbon Price Floor (CPF) has played an important part in relegating coal to a more ‘climate-friendly’ role providing infrequent peaking power at times of greatest need, allowing lower carbon gas to take over as the baseload generator.

“Over the last two years the CPF has added 0.5p/kWh to the cost of generation, or about 3% of a household electricity bill.  In return it has played a major part in reducing carbon emissions by a third, making it excellent value for money.”

The report also found that:

• Britain became a net exporter to France for the first time in six years due to a crisis with French nuclear stations, but exports were limited due to the interconnector being damaged.
• The loss of imports from France left the power market tight with National Grid issuing notices of thin margins. Power price volatility grew, with peak prices over £1,500/MWh

Electric Insights will be published once a quarter, and is supported by an interactive website – www.ElectricInsights.co.uk – which provides live data from 2009 until the present. The data sources and methodology used in Electric Insights are listed in full on the website.

Commissioned by Drax Group, owner and operator of the UK’s largest power station and Europe’s biggest biomass-fuelled power plant, the report will be delivered independently by Dr Iain Staffell from Imperial College London, facilitated by the College’s consultancy company – Imperial Consultants.

The full report can be read here

ENDS

Contact

Jenny Davies
Drax
07912 271 236
[email protected]

Ali Lewis
Drax
01757 612 165
[email protected]

Lynda Stamford
Imperial Consultants
020 7594 2069
[email protected]

Notes to Editors

• Electric Insights Quarterly was commissioned by Drax and is delivered independently by a team of academics from Imperial College London, facilitated by the College’s consultancy company – Imperial Consultants. The report analyses raw data that are made publicly available by National Grid and Elexon, who run the electricity and balancing market respectively. Released four times a year, it will focus on supply and demand, prices, emissions, the performance of the various generation technologies and the network that connects them.
• Along with Dr Iain Staffell, the team from Imperial included Professors Richard Green and Tim Green, experts in energy economics and electrical engineering, and Dr Rob Gross who contributed expertise in energy policy. The work to date has revealed scope for further research in this area, to inform both government and organisations within the energy industry.
• The quarterly reports are backed by an interactive website electricinsights.co.uk which provides live data from 2009 until the present. It was designed by The Economist Group’s independent data design agency, Signal | Noise.

• Generation from coal fell 61% in 2016 from the previous year whilst gas was up 51%, and low carbon reached its highest ever output. This was the largest annual swing in fuel shares since the miners’ strike of 1984 and the largest ever in percentage terms.
• During Storm Barbara, wind generation peaked at 10.8GW throughout a 30-minute period on December 23. However, wind farms also spent a whole day producing on average, less than 0.7GW each half hourly period – an output of just 5% of the installed capacity.

About Drax

Drax Group plc plays a vital role in helping change the way energy is generated, supplied and used as the UK moves to a low carbon future. Drax operates the largest power station in the UK and supplies up to 8 percent of the country’s electricity needs. The energy firm converted from burning coal to become a predominantly biomass-fuelled electricity generator. Drax is the biggest single site renewable generator in the UK and the largest debarbonisation project in Europe.  Its 1,400-strong staff operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.

The Group includes:

Drax Biomass, based in the US and manufacturers compressed wood pellets produced from sustainably managed working forests.

Haven Power, the Group’s retail arm, providing business electricity contracts that are simple, flexible and designed to customers specific requirements.

Billington Bioenergy, is one of the leading distributors of wood pellets for sustainable heating in the UK.

For more information visit www.drax.com/uk

About Imperial Consultants

• Imperial Consultants provide access to over 4,000 research-active expert academics and Imperial College London’s state of the art facilities to deliver innovative solutions to meet the business needs of industry, government and the third sector.
• Founded in 1990, Imperial Consultants is the wholly owned consultancy company of Imperial College London. It was set up to help deliver the Colleges vision “A world where the direct application of Imperial’s expertise to solve major challenges for the benefit of society and industry is the global standard.”
• One of the largest university owned consultancy companies in the UK, Imperial Consultants deliver around 600 projects for 500 clients each year. Clients range from SMEs to global corporations and include AstraZeneca, BAE Systems, BP, Caterpillar, DEFRA, EDF Energy, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and Unilever.
• In the last 5 years, 40% of our projects have been delivered outside the UK, in over 70 countries.
• For more information visit imperial-consultants.co.uk

Figures show that 2016 may not have been a white Christmas – but it certainly was a green one.

More than 40% of the electricity generated on Christmas Day came from renewable sources – making it the greenest Christmas ever for energy generation.

On average, 12.4GW of electricity generated came from green sources – 63% more than in 2015 when just 25% of the electricity generated came from renewables, and up 195% compared to five Christmases ago in 2012 when just 4.2GW (or 12% of the energy generated) came from renewables.

75% of the renewable energy produced on Christmas Day came from wind turbines with 9.4GW generated on average – equivalent to 31% of all the electricity generated that day. This was close to the record for wind generation reached just a couple of days earlier on Friday December 23 2016 when at its peak 10.8GW of power was generated by wind.

The figures from Electric Insights, commissioned by Drax, show that biomass generation has also increased from just 0.5GW on average on December 25 2012, to 2GW at Christmas in 2016.

This comes just days after the European Commission approved the UK government’s decision to award Drax Power a Contract for Difference (CfD) to upgrade the third of its six units at its power station in North Yorkshire to run on wood pellets, from coal.

Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO said:

“These Christmas figures show that the UK energy system really is changing. Renewables are increasingly vital to the UK’s energy mix as we decarbonise and move away from coal.

“Since upgrading half of the power station to run on wood pellets, three million households are powered with renewable energy generated by Drax. We provided 20% of the UK’s renewable power in the first half of 2016.

“Biomass allows for more continuous power generation than other intermittent renewables, which is important for security of supply. With the right conditions, we can do even more, converting further units at Drax to use sustainable biomass in place of coal and through rapid response gas projects to plug the gaps created by intermittent renewables.”

Drax is developing plans to build four state-of the-art rapid response open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) power stations, which could, at the flick of a switch, be running at capacity within ten minutes. These more flexible plants will provide system support to the Grid and ‘plug the gaps’ created by intermittent renewables like solar and wind.

The proposed rapid response gas projects would further assist in getting coal off the system and so help the Government achieve carbon saving targets.

Andy Koss commented:

“It’s important to have the right mix of energy generation to ensure we are decarbonising, whilst also keeping the lights on and the costs down. This is the next step for us in helping to change the way energy is generated, supplied and used for a better future.”

ENDS

Contact

Ali Lewis, Head of Media Relations
01757 612165
[email protected]

Notes to Editors

Table comparing the average electricity generation from renewables on Christmas Day for the last five Christmases:

*These figures include the electricity generated from wind, solar, hydro and biomass.

• The findings come from Electric Insights, a realtime dashboard of Great Britain’s electricity demand, supply, price and environmental impact. Quarterly Electric Insights reports are produced independently by researchers from Imperial College London. Commissioned by Drax, they look at Britain’s publicly available electricity data and aims to inform the debate on the electricity system.
• The government has set out proposals to end coal-fired generation by 2025 as part of its plan to stimulate more clean energy generation.
• The European Commission’s decision gives approval to the UK government’s support for the upgrade of Drax power station from coal to biomass, and marks the culmination of a £650 million investment. Drax power station, is the largest carbon saving project in Europe, saving 12 million tonnes of carbon each year.
• Total emissions are calculated from British electricity consumption in tonnes per hour (including emissions from imported power), and the ‘carbon intensity’ of electricity – total emissions divided by total demand in grams per kilowatt hour (g/kWh).

About Drax

Drax Group plc plays a vital role in helping change the way energy is generated, supplied and used as the UK moves to a low carbon future. Drax operates the largest power station in the UK and supplies up to 8 percent of the country’s electricity needs. The energy firm converted from burning coal into becoming a predominantly biomass-fuelled electricity generator. In addition to being one of the largest producers of renewable powers in the UK, Drax also holds the distinction of being Europe’s single largest decarbonisation project. Its 1,400-strong staff operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.

The Group employs around 1,400 people and also includes:

Drax Biomass, based in the US and manufacturers compressed wood pellets produced from sustainably managed working forests.

Haven Power, the Group’s retail arm, providing business electricity contracts that are simple, flexible and designed to customers specific requirements.

Billington Bioenergy, is one of the leading distributors of wood pellets for sustainable heating in the UK.

For more information visit www.drax.com/uk

The third generating unit at Drax Power Station has been given European Commission (EC) approval to be fully powered by sustainable biomass.

Drax can now complete the upgrade of the third of its six units to run on wood pellets.  The third unit upgrade started in July 2015 and now half the power station will produce renewable electricity, saving 12 million tonnes of carbon each year.

Drax produces enough renewable electricity to power three million homes. In the first six months of this year 20% of the country’s renewable power was provided by Drax.

The government has set out proposals to end coal-fired generation by 2025 as part of its plan to stimulate more clean energy generation. The EC’s decision gives approval to the government’s support for the upgrade of Drax power station from coal to biomass, and marks the culmination of a £650 million investment.

Andy Koss, Drax Power CEO, said: “Drax now leads the world in biomass technology – three million households are powered with renewable energy generated by Drax and we’re the largest carbon saving project in Europe.

“We have demonstrated how to reinvent a coal-fired power station, using an existing asset, so there are no hidden costs to the Grid and it is quick to achieve. This is a testament to the expertise and ingenuity of our engineering team and everyone at the power station.”

Mr Koss said that what has been achieved to date at Drax showed the power station could help switch from coal in an affordable way for bill payers sooner than the 2025 deadline.

“The energy challenge facing the UK is how to replace the contribution currently made by coal. Biomass technology is proven, ready to go and ideally placed to help the country transform to a low carbon future with reliable, secure and affordable renewable power.”

He added: “With the right support from the government, we could upgrade the remainder of the power station to run solely on biomass and provide up to eight per cent of the UK’s total electricity from sustainable sources.”

The EC approval follows the recent announcement by Drax that it is diversifying its power generating capability.

It is developing plans to build four state-of the-art rapid response open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) power stations, which could, at the flick of a switch, be running at capacity within ten minutes. These more flexible plants will provide system support to the Grid and ‘plug the gaps’ created by intermittent renewables like solar and wind.

The proposed rapid response gas projects would further assist in getting coal off the system and so help the Government achieve carbon saving targets.

“The UK energy system is changing and so is Drax.  This is the next step for us in helping to change the way energy is generated, supplied and used for a better future,” said Andy Koss.

Notes to editors: 

• Drax calculates that with half of its six units completed it will save 12 million tonnes of carbon every year, making an important contribution to helping the Government meet its targets to tackle climate change.
• Upgrading to biomass saves more than 80 per cent of the carbon dioxide emissions compared to the use of coal.
• Two other units at the power station in North Yorkshire were previously upgraded in 2013 and 2014 – the upgrade of the third unit makes it the largest decarbonisation project in Europe, and Britain’s biggest single site renewable power generator, generating 20% of the UK’s renewable power.
• A new report into the UK’s energy sector first published last month (November) by Imperial College London in collaboration with Drax, showed biomass has helped contribute to a 56% fall in carbon emissions from electricity in the last four years. This report, titled Electric Insights, also revealed that biomass generation has increased since 2010 from zero to 2GW, enough to supply four per cent of the electricity used every day in the UK.
• Researchers at Oxford Economics studied the impact of Drax Group on the UK’s economy and found it contributed £493 million towards the GDP of Yorkshire and the Humber in 2015 and supported 4,500 jobs in the region’s economy. Their report also estimates that the Group’s activities and that of companies in its supply chain last year contributed £1.2 billion to the UK economy and supported 14,150 jobs.