Renewables are on course to overtake fossil fuels and become Britain’s ‘dominant force’ of power during 2020.
That conclusion has been reached by energy monitoring firm EnAppSys, which attributed the rise in prominence to soaring solar and wind power, pointing to a near 22% increase in the amount of power generated from solar farms alone last year.
EnAppSys now predicts that renewables will generate 121.3TWh of electricity in the 2020 calendar year against around 105.6TWh from coal and gas-fired trend, taking into account current trends.
Paul Verrill, director at EnAppSys, said 2018 had seen significant quantities of wind general displace conventional power stations, squeezing their output in the market, a factor which stands to grow alongside offshore wind capacity.
This displacement is forcing operators of conventional power stations to seek alternative sources of revenue such as the Capacity Market. However the suspension of the scheme could heap financial pressure on such plant unless it is resolved soon.
“With conventional power stations still required to meet peak demand requirements, the suspension of the Capacity Mechanism payments that paid them to be available is a concern in terms of ensuring plants are incentivised to remain in the market,” he said.