The UK’s power exports to the EU reached 4.59 TWh in Q3, an increase of 26% from Q2 and the highest third quarter level since 2011, said energy analyst EnAppSys on Tuesday. Despite soaring energy costs in the UK arising from Russia’s war on Ukraine, “gas prices and electricity generation costs were generally more favourable in Britain than in mainland Europe so Britain remained a net exporter this quarter,” EnAppSys director Paul Verrill said in a statement. “This was primarily due to Britain’s lower dependency on Russian gas imports than other European countries.” France was the main recipient of British power exports as it continued to grapple with corrosion cracking on its nuclear fleet and record low atomic output, EnAppSys said in its third-quarter report published today. Britain exported 4.41 TWh of power to France, up from 3.37 TWh during the previous quarter via all three cables linking the countries, the data showed.
Belgium received 0.46 TWh, while exports to Norway totalled 0.07 TWh amid low reservoir levels and reduced hydropower output in Norway, EnAppSys said. Overall, gas led the UK’s electricity stack during the third quarter – in part because of the high export level – accounting for 30.6 TWh of power generation. Total renewable generation, including wind, solar and biomass stood at 24.9 TWh, EnAppSys said. Meanwhile, French nuclear output was the biggest contributor to the continent’s fuel mix during Q3, accounting for around 22% of the total, EnAppSys said. Gas was the next largest contributor, accounting for 21%.