This year is set to be the best on record for Britain’s renewables electricity network, according to data provided by National Grid (NG.).
Thirteen different clean energy records have been broken in 2017 as demand for solar, wind, hydro and biomass-sourced power soars.
Achievements during the course of the year include the greenest summer ever; the first full day since the Industrial Revolution where there was no coal power; record breaking level of green power; and the plummeting costs of offshore wind.
‘It’s been an exciting year managing the many ‘network firsts’ - from a day where we operated the system with zero coal power, to one where over half of Great Britain’s energy demand was met by renewable generation,’ says Duncan Burt, director of the System Operator at National Grid.
BECOMING EVER GREENER
And next year could set the renewable bar even higher, with experts predicting that 2018 will be another year of opportunity for clean energy, and is set to be even greener.
This underlines the opportunity for investors to back the shift in the UK renewables power supply.
Investment options beyond National Grid include the major UK-listed power supply companies, such as British Gas-owner Centrica (CNA) and SSE (SSE).
There are also independents including Telecom Plus (TEP) and Good Energy (GOOD:AIM) - the only renewables-only supplier to homes and businesses on the London stock market.
INCOME-BEARING FUND OPTIONS
There is also a growing legion of renewables funds available. Options include Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIL), Greencoat UK Wind (UKW), John Laing Environmental Assets (JLEN), NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) and The Renewable Infrastructure Group (TRIG), with on and offshore wind and solar assets.
Interestingly, all of these funds offer investors income yields of between 5.5% to 6.5% annually.
Adding its name to this growing list in July (when it joined the AIM market), Greencoat Renewables (GRP:AIM) operates windfarms in Ireland, although it has plans to expand into other European Union territories in time.
Since 2012, Britain has halved carbon emissions in the electricity sector making the power system the fourth cleanest in Europe and the seventh cleanest in the world.
