London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – The UK wants to reach net zero by 2050. However, the crucial factor is to look for a strategy that can bring a transition in the electricity system. If the UK aims to have an electrical system that has 100% zero-carbon generation, they need to work harder. It depends on how much renewable energy UK has currently. Is it sufficient for electricity generation? Renewable energy is already a big part of energy sources. All this makes up the electricity supply. Moreover, it depends on how much electricity is currently used and how much more they should have.
What Energy Renewables Are Used For The Electricity?
The UK depends on four different renewable energy sources. They include wind, solar, hydroelectric, and bioenergy. If this isn’t enough UK is making use of sun, weather, waterways, and organic materials to generate electricity. Currently, a huge amount of electricity is entering the national grid. While the source of energy is natural gas.
The UK needs a lot of natural gas that is imported in the form of fossil fuel. However, it can emit harmful carbon dioxide and the gas is burned to generate electricity. The Government is trying to have an eco-friendly environment by reducing these harmful emission.
How Much Of Energy Comes From Renewable Sources?
Nowadays renewable energy sources are used to generate a huge amount of electricity. There is no doubt electricity can power your home and business easily. The UK is on the verge of creating an electricity system that will be based on renewable energy. The carbon-free resources can keep the environment safe.
In 2020 UK finally generated a good amount of electricity from renewable energy. Around 43% of the power is coming in from a mixture of wind, solar and hydroelectric sources. However, the question remains, are these enough? The Government knows how to handle this electricity issue. They are soon going to produce the trillionth kilowatt (kWh) since 1970. Interestingly it took them around 47 years to reach the first half trillion. From 1970 to 2017 they successfully produced the second half trillion.
How UK Generates Electricity?
The UK uses different types of energy to create a good amount of electricity. Some of them are mentioned below:
1. Fossil Fuels
The electricity in the UK is produced by burning plenty of fossil fuels. However, one of the major sources is 42% natural gas and 9% coal. Usually, a very small amount of 3.1% is generated from other fuels.
2. Nuclear
Around 21% of electricity in the UK comes from nuclear resources. They make use of uranium atoms that are split to produce a good amount of heat. This process is known as fission. All the nuclear power stations in the UK are working hard to gain this power.
3. Renewable energy
Many renewable technologies are used natural energy to produce electricity. Some of the most prominent fuel sources include wind, wave, marine, and hydro. It also includes biomass and solar energy. As the UK has rich renewable energy resources they can easily create the kind of electricity they want. Due to these resources, they made 24.5% of electricity in 2016. The number will rise even further as the UK aims to generate 30% of electricity from renewable sources.
4. Imports
The UK can import electricity resources from other European countries. The electricity network is connected to the system of France. However, Netherlands and Ireland’s electricity is connected by cables. These cables are popularly known as interconnectors. The UK can import or export electricity, which is a reason for its growth. France and the Netherlands import 13.8 TWh and 8.0 TWh respectively. This is the reason the UK can easily get 5.8% of electricity supplied from them. The total amount of 0.9 TWh comes from Ireland itself.
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How Long Will It Take To Switch To Renewable Energy?
The UK aims to completely switch to renewable energy. It will help reduce the emissions coming from carbon dioxide. Green energy resources play a major part in keeping the environment safe. It is estimated that the renewable capacity of the UK will increase in the coming years. The government will enforce many new plans and ideas to increase wind output.
Currently, the wind output is 11 GW and it will increase to 50GW by 2030. All this credit goes to the Government authorities who are using financial incentives to gain this power. Meanwhile, the solar capacity is also expected to grow five times more than this year. It will see an increase from 14GW to 70 GW.