The UK expects to become a net exporter of electricity in just eight years’ time as the country implements its Net Zero Strategy. The milestone would reverse decades of the country being a net power importer, using subsea cables to draw more electricity from French nuclear reactors and other European power stations than it sends in the other direction. Electricity imports into the UK hit a record level in August last year. To meet its goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, the country plans to encourage a wave of offshore wind farms and solar installations this decade. These are expected to produce such an abundance of inexpensive power that from 2030 onwards, Great Britain will be a net exporter, according to scenarios being considered by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which underpin the UK’s flagship Net Zero Strategy. This month, a glut of gas in the UK has seen power stations burning more of it than usual, resulting in electricity flowing to continental Europe, but this is an unusual and temporary situation; whereas the change from 2030 is expected to be permanent.
New Scientist 18th May 2022 read more »