Explore the UK Energy Events Corpus
Filter, search, and timeline-explore source-verified UK energy events from 2004 onwards. Citable dataset (CC-BY-4.0): Zenodo concept DOI .
Filters
54 of 54 events
54 events match · sorted newest first
Wylfa selected as site for UK's first Rolls-Royce SMRs
Government announced Wylfa, Anglesey as the host site for the first three Rolls-Royce SMRs, with potential to scale to eight reactors (~3.76 GW). Follows the June 2025 R-R preferred-bidder selection and GBN's March 2024 site acquisition.
13 Nov 2025
Sizewell C final investment decision signed
Energy Secretary signed the Sizewell C final investment decision on 22 July 2025. UK government took an initial 44.9% stake; remaining equity held by EDF and others via a regulated-asset-base structure. Capacity 3.2 GW (~6 million homes); first power expected 2030s.
22 Jul 2025
Rolls-Royce SMR selected as preferred bidder for first UK SMRs
First new UK nuclear procurement since Hinkley Point C FID (2016). £2.5bn pledged across the SMR programme; site allocation deferred to later in 2025. Grid connection targeted mid-2030s.
10 Jun 2025
Wind generation exceeds gas in UK quarterly mix for the first time
Wind output (17.9 TWh) overtook gas-fired generation (15.2 TWh) on a quarterly basis in Q2 2025, the first time renewables exceeded fossil baseload at this scale.
1 Apr 2025
EDF announces life extensions for four UK AGR nuclear plants
EDF Energy announced 4 Dec 2024 that all four operating AGR plants would extend: Heysham 1 + Hartlepool by 1 year to Mar 2027; Heysham 2 + Torness by 2 years to Mar 2030. ~45 TWh additional output, displacing ~9.3 bcm of imported gas. Buys grid time before SMRs and Sizewell C.
4 Dec 2024
UK closes its last coal-fired power plant (Ratcliffe-on-Soar)
Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station ceased generation on 30 September 2024 — ending 142 years of UK coal-fired electricity. Coal had supplied 80%+ of UK electricity as recently as 1990. Removed all remaining coal generation from the grid.
30 Sept 2024
CfD Allocation Round 6 awards record 9.6 GW of low-carbon capacity
DESNZ published AR6 results on 3 September 2024: 128 projects awarded contracts totalling 9.6 GW — the largest CfD round. Record solar (3.2 GW) and the world's largest commercial-scale floating offshore wind project (400 MW). Budget increased to £1.5bn in July 2024.
3 Sept 2024
UK lifts de facto ban on new onshore wind in England
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced on 8 July 2024 that the de facto onshore wind ban in England — created by 2015 NPPF tests requiring sole-objector veto — was ended same-day. Plans confirmed to consult on returning large onshore wind to the NSIP regime.
8 Jul 2024
UK requires solar projects to avoid Best and Most Versatile farmland
Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho announces solar projects must prioritise brownfield, rooftop and lower-grade land — formal protection of "Best and Most Versatile" (BMV) agricultural land from large ground-mounted solar.
15 May 2024
Great British Nuclear acquires Wylfa and Oldbury sites from Hitachi
Great British Nuclear bought the Anglesey (Wylfa) and Gloucestershire (Oldbury) sites from Hitachi, recovering nuclear-development land that Hitachi had abandoned in 2020 after Wylfa Newydd costs escalated.
7 Mar 2024
T-4 Capacity Auction clears at £65/kW for 2027/28 delivery (record)
The T-4 capacity auction concluded on 27 February 2024, securing 42.8 GW of de-rated capacity for 2027/28 delivery at a clearing price of £65/kW/year — the highest T-4 clearing price on record. New build included 1.0 GW battery storage, 0.4 GW gas, 1.7 GW interconnector capacity.
27 Feb 2024
EDF announces Hinkley Point C cost and timeline revision
EDF revised Hinkley Point C cost to £31-34bn (2015 prices) — up from a previous £26bn cap — and pushed first-power scenarios to 2029-2031, citing Covid, Brexit, civil-construction inflation, and labour/material shortages.
23 Jan 2024
UK Civil Nuclear Roadmap to 2050 published
DESNZ published the Civil Nuclear Roadmap setting out a 24 GW nuclear capacity ambition by 2050 (up to a quarter of UK electricity), framing the policy backdrop for the SMR programme, Sizewell C, and existing fleet life-extension.
11 Jan 2024
Viking Link interconnector enters commercial operation (UK–Denmark, 1.4 GW)
Viking Link, the world's longest land-and-subsea HVDC interconnector at 765 km, entered commercial operation on 29 December 2023 between Lincolnshire and South Jutland. Rated at 1,400 MW; initially operated at reduced capacity pending Danish 400 kV grid expansion.
29 Dec 2023
JNCC publishes Seabirds Count national census
First UK seabird census since 2002 — covering 2015-2021 — found 11 of 21 species declined: kittiwakes -42%, puffins -24%, fulmars -35%. Provides baseline for offshore wind ecological-impact assessments and SPA-boundary review.
16 Nov 2023
Energy Act 2023 receives royal assent
Energy Act 2023 received royal assent 26 October 2023 — the largest UK energy-sector legislation since 1989. Established the Independent System Operator (legal foundation for NESO), CO2 transport-and-storage licensing, hydrogen frameworks, and broad market-reform powers.
26 Oct 2023
Dogger Bank A delivers first power
Dogger Bank A — first phase of the world's largest offshore wind project — delivered first power at 20:37 BST on 7 Oct 2023 from a GE Haliade-X 14 MW, the first Haliade-X to generate at scale. 1.2 GW phase A targets full commissioning 2025; total A+B+C 3.6 GW.
7 Oct 2023
CfD Allocation Round 5 secures zero offshore wind capacity
DESNZ AR5 results 8 Sep 2023 showed zero successful offshore wind bids — first failed offshore round since CfDs began in 2015. Industry had warned the £44/MWh administrative strike was below build cost after 30%+ supply-chain inflation. Forced AR6 strike uplift to £73/MWh.
8 Sept 2023
Centrica signs multi-year LNG supply deal with QatarEnergy
Centrica announced a 3-year agreement with QatarEnergy on 13 Dec 2022 to supply ~1 Mt/year of LNG into the UK from 2023. ~7.5 TWh annually — ~5% of typical UK household gas demand. First major UK-Qatar long-term LNG contract since the energy crisis.
13 Dec 2022
Ofgem default tariff cap rises to £4,279 (Jan-Mar 2023)
Ofgem set the default-tariff cap at £4,279/yr for typical dual-fuel direct-debit customers for 1 Jan – 31 Mar 2023 — a 21% rise on the prior £3,549 cap and the highest level on record. Bill-payers remained protected at £2,500 by the Energy Price Guarantee.
24 Nov 2022
Centrica reopens Rough gas storage facility
Centrica reopened Rough gas storage 28 Oct 2022, five years after closing it on safety grounds in 2017. Initial 50 bcf capacity (~20% of pre-2017), scalable to 100+ bcf. Restored UK seasonal storage from one of Europe's lowest ratios (~1.5% of demand) toward European norms.
28 Oct 2022
Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines hit by sabotage explosions
Underwater explosions ruptured three of four Nord Stream pipeline strings in Danish and Swedish EEZs on 26 Sep 2022. Released ~115,000 tonnes of methane. Ended any near-term option to restore Russian pipeline gas to NW Europe. Investigations remain open as of 2026.
26 Sept 2022
UK Energy Price Guarantee announced (£2,500 typical household cap)
PM Liz Truss announced the Energy Price Guarantee on 8 September 2022, capping a typical household's annual dual-fuel bill at £2,500 for 24 months from 1 October 2022. Equivalent business support scheme announced same day. OBR later estimated year-1 fiscal cost at ~£40bn.
8 Sept 2022
Hornsea 2 enters full operation as world's largest offshore wind farm (1.32 GW)
Ørsted announced on 31 August 2022 that Hornsea 2 — a 1,320 MW offshore wind farm 89 km off the Yorkshire coast — entered full commercial operation, surpassing Hornsea 1 as the world's largest installed offshore wind farm. Generates enough electricity for ~1.4 million UK homes.
31 Aug 2022
Dutch TTF gas front-month closes at record €338/MWh
Dutch TTF front-month gas settled at €338.07/MWh on 26 Aug 2022 — the all-time European wholesale gas record. Intraday peak ~€343. Eight times the long-run average. Drove the £3,549 UK Oct 2022 cap and Energy Price Guarantee. Fell below €100/MWh by Q2 2023.
26 Aug 2022
Review of Electricity Market Arrangements consultation launched
BEIS launched the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) 18 Jul 2022 — the largest GB wholesale electricity review since NETA 2001. Considered locational marginal pricing, market splitting, CfD reform. Second consultation Mar 2023; decisions phased through 2024-2025.
18 Jul 2022
Russia cuts Nord Stream 1 capacity to 40%
Gazprom cut Nord Stream 1 throughput by 40% on 14 Jun 2022, citing Siemens turbine sanctions; reduced again to 20% on 27 Jul. The squeeze drove TTF gas to record €343/MWh by late August and crystallised European recognition that pipeline gas was being weaponised.
14 Jun 2022
British Energy Security Strategy published
BEIS published the British Energy Security Strategy 7 Apr 2022 in response to the post-Ukraine energy crisis. Targets: 24 GW nuclear by 2050, 50 GW offshore wind by 2030 (incl. 5 GW floating), 70 GW solar, 10 GW hydrogen. Headline UK supply-side response to weaponised gas.
7 Apr 2022
BP announces exit from 19.75% Rosneft stake
BP announced exit from its 19.75% Rosneft shareholding on 27 Feb 2022, three days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. ~$25bn write-down. First major Western corporate decoupling moment, followed within days by Shell (Sakhalin) and ExxonMobil (Sakhalin-1).
27 Feb 2022
Russia begins full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Russian armed forces launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. UK PM addressed Commons same day; G7 statement followed. Triggered the European energy crisis: TTF gas peaked above €300/MWh in August 2022, driving the UK October 2022 cap to £3,549.
24 Feb 2022
Storm Eunice — 122 mph gusts, 1.4M GB power outages
Storm Eunice on 18 February 2022 brought wind gusts up to 122 mph in England — among the highest ever recorded — and triggered the Met Office's first-ever double red weather warning. ~1.4 million customers lost power; some homes were without supply for over 72 hours.
18 Feb 2022
Hunterston B AGR closure
Hunterston B (965 MW, two reactors) ceased generation 7 Jan 2022 after 46 years. Closure brought forward from 2023 due to graphite-core cracking identified from 2014. Second AGR closure in seven months (after Dungeness B); removed Scotland's largest baseload before Torness 2028.
7 Jan 2022
French nuclear fleet stress-corrosion crisis
EDF discovered stress-corrosion cracking in reactor cooling circuits late 2021; extended shutdowns drove French nuclear output to 279 TWh in 2022 (lowest in decades). UK briefly became net electricity exporter. Recovered to 361 TWh by 2024.
1 Dec 2021
Storm Arwen — ~1M GB households lose electricity supply
Storm Arwen struck 26-27 November 2021 with gusts up to 98 mph in northern Britain. Nearly 1 million households lost electricity; ~40,000 were without power for over a week. Subsequent DESNZ E3C and Ofgem reviews flagged distribution-network resilience gaps.
26 Nov 2021
Net Zero Strategy 'Build Back Greener' published
BEIS published the Net Zero Strategy 'Build Back Greener' 19 Oct 2021 — first UK plan for delivering the 2050 statutory net-zero target. Sector pathways for power, transport, buildings, industry, land. Court-overturned 2022 for inadequate policy detail; revised plan Mar 2023.
19 Oct 2021
North Sea Link interconnector enters commercial operation (UK–Norway, 1.4 GW)
North Sea Link (NSL), a 1,400 MW HVDC interconnector between Blyth (GB) and Kvilldal (NO), commenced commercial operations on 1 October 2021 — the world's longest subsea power cable at the time (720 km). Provides UK access to Norwegian hydro reservoirs as balancing capacity.
1 Oct 2021
IFA interconnector fire (Sellindge converter station)
Fire at Sellindge converter station in Kent halved IFA capacity from 2,000 MW to 1,000 MW. Full restoration October 2023, a 25-month outage that compounded the 2021-22 energy price crisis.
15 Sept 2021
Dungeness B — first AGR early closure
EDF announced 7 Jun 2021 that Dungeness B (1,090 MW) would move directly into defueling rather than restarting after the 2018 outage, citing pipework and steam-generator corrosion. First early AGR closure and start of the AGR fleet endgame that accelerated through 2022.
7 Jun 2021
Drax ends commercial coal generation
Drax ceased commercial coal generation 31 Mar 2021 — four years ahead of the 2025 target — completing conversion to biomass and gas. At peak Drax was the UK's largest single coal consumer (~9 Mt/yr, ~7% of UK electricity). Left only Ratcliffe-on-Soar and West Burton A operating.
31 Mar 2021
Ofgem RIIO-T2 final determinations published
Ofgem published RIIO-T2 final determinations 8 Dec 2020 covering electricity (NGET, SHE-T, SPT) and gas transmission (NGGT) for 2021-2026. Allowed revenues £30bn lower than companies' plans. Defined the regulatory funding envelope for the offshore-wind grid build-out.
8 Dec 2020
UK announces first national COVID-19 lockdown
PM Boris Johnson's address on 23 March 2020 instructed the public to stay at home, triggering the largest single-month UK electricity-demand drop on record (~13% YoY in April 2020 per DESNZ Energy Trends) — industrial demand fell sharply while residential demand rose.
23 Mar 2020
UK formally leaves Euratom
UK exited the European Atomic Energy Community at 23:00 GMT on 31 Jan 2020 alongside EU withdrawal. Ended Euratom safeguards participation, requiring new bilateral nuclear co-operation agreements (US, Canada, Japan, Australia) and a domestic ONR safeguards regime.
31 Jan 2020
GB power blackout disconnects ~1.1 million customers
On 9 Aug 2019 at 16:52, near-simultaneous trips at Hornsea 1 (737 MW) and Little Barford CCGT (664 MW) cut frequency to 48.8 Hz — below the 48.9 Hz LFDD threshold. Auto-disconnection cut ~1.1 million customers. Trains stranded; exposed under-frequency response inadequacy.
9 Aug 2019
UK becomes first major economy to legislate net zero by 2050
The Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019 came into force 27 Jun 2019, replacing the 80% reduction target with a net-zero greenhouse-gas target by 2050. Followed Committee on Climate Change advice. Triggered the Net Zero Strategy 2021 and Sixth Carbon Budget.
27 Jun 2019
Beast from the East — UK winter cold snap drives 16% gas demand spike
A late-February 2018 cold snap (the "Beast from the East") drove UK domestic gas consumption up 16% in Q1 2018 vs Q1 2017. National Grid Gas issued a Gas Deficit Warning on 1 March 2018 — the first since 2012 — as demand stress-tested storage and import capacity.
23 Feb 2018
Hywind Scotland — world's first floating offshore wind farm — commissioned
Hywind Scotland began commercial production 18 Oct 2017 — five 6 MW Siemens turbines on Equinor spar foundations 25 km off Peterhead, 30 MW total. Achieved world-record 56% capacity factor in 2018. Proof-of-concept that opened the floating-wind pathway picked up by ScotWind 2022.
18 Oct 2017
Britain records first 24-hour coal-free generation day since 1882
On Friday 21 April 2017 Britain went 24 hours without burning coal for electricity for the first time since the 1880s, as confirmed by National Grid. Marked the inflection point in the UK coal phase-out that culminated in the September 2024 closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar.
21 Apr 2017
Hinkley Point C contract signed (final investment decision)
Government and EDF signed the final contract for the UK's first new nuclear power station for a generation. £18bn project value; expected to provide 7% of Britain's electricity for 60 years. The deal set the 35-year CfD framework that defined subsequent UK low-carbon contracts.
29 Sept 2016
Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 1 results
DECC published CfD AR1 results 26 Feb 2015 — 27 projects on 15-year contracts including 1.16 GW offshore wind at £114-120/MWh (East Anglia ONE, Neart Na Gaoithe). First competitive UK low-carbon auction; foundation of the CfD-as-policy-instrument defining the next decade.
26 Feb 2015
First UK Capacity Market T-4 auction clears
First T-4 Capacity Market auction cleared 19 Dec 2014 at £19.40/kW/yr for 2018/19 delivery, securing 49.3 GW of de-rated capacity. The principal post-EMR mechanism for keeping dispatchable plant on the system; criticised for paying CCGTs and coal that would have run anyway.
19 Dec 2014
Energy Act 2013 receives royal assent
Energy Act 2013 received royal assent 18 Dec 2013, establishing Electricity Market Reform architecture: Contracts for Difference, Capacity Market, Carbon Price Floor, Emissions Performance Standard, and ONR. Legal foundation for UK electricity policy until the Energy Act 2023.
18 Dec 2013
Initial Hinkley Point C strike price agreed at £92.50/MWh
DECC and EDF agreed 21 Oct 2013 on a £92.50/MWh CfD strike price (2012 prices) for Hinkley Point C, indexed to CPI for 35 years from commissioning. Falls to £89.50/MWh if Sizewell C follows. Set the precedent defining every subsequent UK low-carbon contract architecture.
21 Oct 2013
Climate Change Act 2008 receives royal assent
Climate Change Act 2008 received royal assent 26 Nov 2008 — UK became first country with a legally binding long-term climate target (80% by 2050; amended to net zero 2019). Established the CCC and 5-yearly carbon-budget framework anchoring all subsequent UK energy policy.
26 Nov 2008
UK becomes a net energy importer
Britain crossed from net energy exporter to net importer in 2004, ending two decades of self-sufficiency built on North Sea production — the start of the import-dependency trajectory.
1 Jan 2004