UK Electricity Prices & Generation

Estimated Costs of UK energy types

The Royal Academy of Engineering estimates the current cost of energy production (pence per Kilowatt hour) as

Gas Fired 2.2
Nuclear 2.3 (including decommissioning)
Coal 2.5 to 3.2
On-shore Wind 5 to 7
Off-shore wind 15 to 21

These figures are in reasonable agreement with the ones I calculated several years ago. See wind24.

ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN THE UK 2000 ONWARDS

Units: 000 GWh (SOURCE: DUKES 2010)

.................COAL*......GAS*. NUCLEAR.. RENEW*. TOTAL
2000..........147.............126..........78..................9.............357
2001..........147.............130..........83..................7.............364
2002..........149.............132..........81..................8.............366
2003..........162.............129..........82..................7.............376
2004..........154.............140..........74..................9.............373
2005..........155.............139..........75.................10............377
2006..........170.............127..........69.................13............374
2007..........162.............149..........57.................11............374
2008..........145.............168..........48.................11............367
2009..........127.............157..........63.................11............354
2010..........not yet available (Jan 2011)

AS PERCENTAGES, ROUNDED TO NEAREST 1%......

.................COAL*......GAS*. NUCLEAR.. RENEW*
2000..........41...............35..........22..................3
2001..........40...............35..........23..................2
2002..........41...............36..........22..................2
2003..........43...............34..........22..................2
2004..........41...............38..........20..................2
2005..........41...............37..........20..................3
2006..........46...............34..........18..................3
2007..........43...............40..........15..................3
2008..........40...............46..........13..................3
2009..........36...............44..........18..................3
2010..........not yet available (Jan 2011)

*NOTES
"COAL" is listed in DUKES (Directory/Digest of UK Energy Statistics) as "conventional thermal", which is mainly but not entirely coal.
"GAS" is listed as "CCGT" (combined cycle gas turbine) which is mainly but not entirely natural gas. Some gas fired power stations have the ability to burn oil (distillate, a fuel resembling diesel) if the gas supply is compromised.
"RENEW" (renewables) includes wind, hydro, and pumped storage.


N.D., Habitat21 website.

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