Wind power became the UK’s leading source of electricity for the first time last year as efforts to wean the energy system off fossil fuels progressed.
Some 29% of the UK’s electricity over the year was produced by wind turbines, according to the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
Around a quarter came from gas in the meantime, against 32% a year earlier, which equated to the lowest proportion in a decade.
Gas had dominated the UK’s electricity mix since 2013, when it overtook coal-fired power production.
Coal was finally fully phased out in the UK last year as the last of such power stations, Ratcliffe on Soar, shut down for the final time in September.
Britain’s Labour government has laid out ambitions to decarbonise the country’s power grid by 2030, which would require ending use of its 32 main gas-fired power stations.
Plans are to ramp up solar, alongside offshore and onshore wind capacity, with energy secretary Ed Miliband last month introducing a bill to class such projects as “nationally significant infrastructure”.
If passed, the move would end an effective ban on new onshore wind by blocking the likes of locals and councils from being able to dispute new projects.
According to NESO, the UK could see spells of no gas generation as early as 2025 as it shifts to lower-carbon power production.