A path out of the gas crisis

Ember's analysis argues that the UK can reduce gas power generation to 1% by 2030, avoiding £93 billion in costs. This would require adding 90 GW of wind and solar capacity and utilizing green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) for system balancing. The report emphasizes that high global gas prices make this transition an economic and security imperative.

• The UK power sector can transition from a 40% reliance on gas to just 1% by 2030, which is five years earlier than the official clean power target of 2035.
• Achieving a clean power mix by 2030 would result in approximately £93 billion in avoided gas costs, a sum comparable to the UK's total annual education spending.
• To phase out gas power by 2030, the UK needs to add roughly 90 GW of wind and large-scale solar capacity. Current project pipelines contain sufficient capacity to meet this goal if all projects are approved and constructed.
• In the proposed 2030 scenario, clean sources would provide 99.3% of the power mix, with wind and solar contributing 71% of generation.
• The transition would require significant grid infrastructure investment, particularly to move electricity from wind farms in Scotland and northern England to high-demand areas in the south, such as London and the South East.
• To ensure energy security during peak stress or low-wind periods, the report suggests maintaining a government-supported strategic reserve of mothballed gas capacity and deploying dispatchable low-carbon technologies like green hydrogen and CCS.

APA

Ember (2022). A path out of the gas crisis. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/uk-gas-power-phase-out

Chicago

Ember. A path out of the gas crisis. 2022. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/uk-gas-power-phase-out.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=A path out of the gas crisis |date=23 September 2022 |url=https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/uk-gas-power-phase-out |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2022path, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{A path out of the gas crisis}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/uk-gas-power-phase-out}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }