National Grid PLC (LSE:NG.) has warned that gas demand is set to surge by 20% over the rest of the decade to meet demand for electricity in the UK.
Demand for gas will be 20% higher than previously expected in 2030, analysis by National Grid's Electricity System Operator (ESO) has suggested.
ESO suggests the UK will keep burning “unabated” gas for power until at least 2036 and longer allowing for schemes such as carbon capture.
Labour has vowed to make the UK a net-zero grid by 2030 through a massive expansion of onshore wind and solar power through new vehicles such as GB Energy and a new National Wealth fund.
But the scale of the undertaking was illustrated by the ESO report, which was produced before the election.
According to the ESO, wind and solar power capacity needs to rise from 44 gigawatts currently to between 141 and 189 gigawatts by 2035, and 197 and 249 gigawatts in 2050.
Overall storage capacity, including electric batteries, has to rise from seven gigawatts now to 30 to 48 gigawatts by 2035 and 50 to 83 gigawatts by 2050, according to the report.
Claire Dykta, director of strategy and policy at the ESO, said the UK needed “decisive action within the next two years”.
Meanwhile, the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA), the trade association representing the nuclear power industry, said that net electricity imports accounted for a fifth of UK supply in June, based on the National Grid data.
That puts annual power imports on course to beat the previous record by almost 50% in 2024, or an amount equivalent to more than the entire output of the planned new Hinkley C power station.
Britain imports electricity through interconnectors from countries such as France and Norway, but the NIA criticised this strategy.
Tom Greatrex, NIA chief executive, blamed “underinvestment” in the nuclear industry in the UK.
“The next government’s drive to net zero means we must start turning that around by approving a raft of new nuclear power stations alongside major renewable investment.”