Montel Gorup’s Quarterly Review of GB Electricity Market Q2 2024 shows that gas-fired generation output was very low at 13.4TWh, the lowest quarterly aggregate of CCGT generation output in its 20-year data series. Average demand declined this quarter to reach around 23.5GW, the lowest for any Q2 since the first lockdown in 2020, in part due to milder weather particularly in May and late June.

In this quarter, interconnectors saw a net power import of 9.2TWh, up from 7.4TWh in Q2 2023. Over Q2, France contributed the most to GB interconnector flow with 6.39TWh, followed by Norway with 2.46TWh. Net imports into GB through Viking Link decreased by more than half compared to in Q1 2024, dropping from 1.24TWh last quarter to 0.57TWh this quarter. This was due to extended periods of high wind generation in GB compared to neighbouring countries which drove increased power export volumes into Denmark.

At around 23.5GW the average domestic demand recorded this quarter was lower than any Q2 since 2020 which had seen abnormally low demand due to the Covid lockdowns, and also represented a (largely seasonal) decline of 21 per cent from last quarter’s approximate 29.7GW. After the cold spell in early April, milder temperatures mostly above 10C were seen in GB resulting in lower demand on most days.

Total GB generation for this quarter, excluding imports, was 54.6TWh, marking a 17 per cent decrease from the previous quarter and the lowest quarterly total since Q2 2022. This reduction was attributable to decreased demand and high levels of imports, resulting in CCGT utilisation dropping by over a third to 13.4TWh from 21.6TWh last quarter. Including imports, GB generation increased to 63.8TWh, which, although lower than last quarter, is higher than in Q2 2023.

The best news of all was that renewables contributed 47 per cent to the GB generation mix this quarter, with wind at 17.2TWh, biomass at 6.8TWh, solar at an all-time high of 5.1TWh, and hydro at 1.1TWh. Wind generation declined by 31 per cent from Q1 2024, biomass increased by 3 per cent, solar, of course, surged by 174 per cent in line with seasonal patterns, and hydro decreased by 42 per cent. Solar generation reached its highest level for any recent quarter. The total solar outturn in Q2 was 5.14TWh, up from 4.90TWh seen in Q2 last year.

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