Renewables generated record share of UK electricity in 2025, data shows

Renewables generated a record share of the UK’s electricity in 2025, according to provisional figures from the Energy Department (Desnz).

The data, released on Thursday, shows that output from renewable technologies such as wind and solar accounted for 52.5% of electricity generation last year.

Together they generated 152.5 terrawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity – an increase of 5.7% compared to 2024.

Desnz said the rise was driven by more renewables being rolled out across the UK, coupled with more favourable weather conditions.

The UK added 3.8 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity to the grid, bringing the total to 65.1 GW, up from 61.3 GW in 2024 and 9.3 GW in 2010, the figures show.

It comes after Labour came to power nearly two years ago with a promise to remove almost all fossil fuels from the UK’s electricity grid by 2030, arguing that would reduce bills, generate economic growth, boost energy security and help the UK meet its commitments to tackle climate change.

Energy minister Michael Shanks said last year marked “a major step towards greater control over our energy, our bills and our future”.

“Britain didn’t just break records in 2025 – we blew them away,” he said.

With the Iran conflict currently driving up oil and gas prices, Mr Shanks said: “Four years on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine we are again seeing what it means to be in the grip of volatile fossil fuel markets we do not control.

“While we continue to fight for people’s corner, with action taken at the budget cutting bills by £117 this week, we are also going further and faster on clean, homegrown energy such as solar and wind.

“This is how we get bills down for good and protect everyone from fossil fuel price shocks.”

Last year, wind generation broke previous records with a share of 30.0% after increasing by 4.1% and contributing 87.1 TWh.

And electricity generated by solar power soared by 36.6% in 2025 compared to 2024, hitting a new record of 20 TWh and generating a 6.9% share of the UK’s energy.

However, last year also saw nuclear power hit a record low, which nearly offset the growth in renewables, Desnz said.

The share of generation from low carbon sources therefore dropped slightly from 65.0% in 2024 to 64.8% last year.

Meanwhile, fossil fuel generation increased by 2.0% compared to last year’s record low following reduced electricity imports.

Overall UK energy production in 2025, which covers heating and transport as well as electricity, dropped by 1.0% to a record low, breaking the record lows seen in 2023 and 2024.

This was partly driven by the fall in fossil fuel production as output from the UK’s older fields decline.

It follows the Government’s ban on new exploration licences for oil and gas fields in the North Sea.

Elsewhere, household energy consumption in 2025 was found to be at similar to 2024.

But officials said it remains significantly down on pre-pandemic averages because of factors such as higher energy prices and record warm temperatures in recent years.

Figures also released on Tuesday showed the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions for those produced within the country’s borders decreased by 1.8% last year compared to 2024, and were down by 53.6% on 1990 levels.

Last year, 30.8% of these emissions were from domestic transport, 21.9% were from the buildings and product uses sector, 12.5% from agriculture, 11.2% from industry, 10.2% from electricity supply and 7.4% from fuel supply.

Desnz said the largest emissions reductions were driven by the fall in blast furnace use in the industrial sector and a fall in coal use in the electricity supply sector.

This came after the UK stopped burning coal to generate electricity in September 2024 following the closure of the last coal-fired power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar.

But while industry and electricity supply emissions fell, domestic transport sector emissions increased by 2.2%, largely because of an increase in the use of petrol and diesel in road transport.

Fuel supply sector emissions decreased by 5.2% in 2025, driven by less being generated by oil and gas supply compared to 2024.

And a decrease in buildings using heating meant emissions from the buildings and product use sector decreased by 1.7%.