This article first appeared in our COP29 special issue of My Green Pod Magazine. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox
25 years ago the way we produced energy in the UK was very different; over that time Good Energy, the pioneering clean power company founded in 1999, has seen seismic changes.
As the company celebrates its 25th anniversary, we wanted to take a look at the those shifts and assess what needs to be achieved in the next 25 years in order for the country to become net zero by 2025.
In the late 1990s, the UK’s energy system was still predominantly reliant on fossil fuels, with coal and natural gas the primary sources of electricity generation.
It was in this period that gas became a major source of electricity generation, going from just 1.5% in 1990 to 37% in 1999. It largely took its share from coal which, alongside nuclear, was the dominant source of power in the decade.
Meanwhile, renewables were practically non-existent. Just over 2% of all electricity generation came from renewable sources, mostly hydroelectric from power stations that had existed since the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Setting up an energy company that promised ‘100% renewable electricity’, as Good Energy’s founder Juliet Davenport did in late 1999, was quite an extraordinary idea.
The UK’s first commercial wind farm was at Delabole in Cornwall. The small set of turbines was actually first built by the Edwards family, on its own land, way back in 1991; this was long before wind power was mainstream. The wind farm was bought by Good Energy in 2002 and repowered with new turbines in 2010.
This was the decade the majority of our onshore wind farms popped up around the country, until the Conservative government effectively banned onshore wind in 2015. This ban has only recently been lifted.
The year 2000 saw the UK’s first commercial offshore wind farm in Blyth Harbour. This milestone set the stage for the UK’s leadership in wind power; together, onshore and offshore wind’s share of electricity generation has grown from less than 1% at the turn of the century to 28% last year.
The introduction of the Climate Change Act in 2008 was a pivotal moment for the UK’s energy system. This precursor to the country’s net zero pledge set legally binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to at least 100% lower than a 1990 baseline by 2050.
In 2004, Good Energy created the first UK scheme to pay homeowners with solar for the power they generate. This was then supercharged when HomeGen became the blueprint for the launch of the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme in 2010.
FiT was a government-legislated scheme; like the Climate Change Act, it was brought in by then Energy Minister Ed Miliband, who has recently returned to the position. It provided financial incentives for households and businesses to install solar panels, leading to a surge in solar capacity.
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Between its launch in 2010 and closure in 2019, the FiT scheme saw over 850,000 small-scale solar installations, with a total capacity of 5 gigawatts. That’s bigger than the UK’s largest single power station.
Advances in technology and reductions in the cost of solar panels further accelerated the adoption of solar power, which in 2023 produced 4.9% of the UK’s electricity.
The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, introduced in 2014, is a mechanism to create long-term price stability for renewable energy projects, particularly large bits of infrastructure – such as offshore wind farms – that have high upfront costs.
It has been a major driver of offshore wind’s growth ever since.
Energy prices were already starting to rise in late 2021, as COP26 took place in Glasgow. But shockwaves hit energy markets as Russia attacked Ukraine in March 2022.
The instability, and Russia’s position as a major exporter of gas across Europe, sent energy prices skyrocketing.
The UK, not a significant importer of Russian gas but uniquely exposed to global gas prices due to the high percentage we still use to produce power and to hear our homes, was hard hit.
It was a starkly clear sign that the urgent need to move away from fossil fuels would not just cut carbon emissions, it would bring down bills and improve energy independence as well.
This year we have seen the return of a Labour government, entering parliament with an immediate overturn of the ban on onshore wind and a commitment to get to completely clean power by 2030.
This is an ambitious target, but it is also only part of the picture.
Thanks to the growth in renewables and demise of coal power — the last coal power station shut at midnight on 30 September 2024 — most of the UK’s decarbonisation has been led by electricity.
Now transport and buildings, namely how we heat them, are the top two contributors to the country’s carbon footprint.
To achieve net zero by 2050, the country needs to get off gas and petrol. The abundant clean power generation we will see being built must also power how we heat our homes and travel.
As in the past 25 years of the energy transition, Good Energy plans to continue helping customers be a part of the next 25 years of positive progress.
In addition to truly 100% renewable power, proven to help grow green electricity, the company offers solar installations, smart tariffs for exported solar power and charging EVs, solar, storage and EV charging installation. All you need for a greener home.
Reduce your bills and make your home more energy independent with solar panels and a battery from Good Energy Solar.
Heat your home using renewables with a bespoke heat pump system designed for your home.
Good Energy provides Soil Association with ‘groundbreaking’ new clean power-matching initiative, offering game-changing levels of transparency
Good Energy played a pioneering role in bringing clean energy to UK homes – and now the supplier is making green living even easier.
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