Britain breaks solar energy record twice as UK’s biggest solar farm gets approval

Britain’s sunny spring weather powered the grid to new solar energy records on two consecutive days this week.Solar farms in England, Wales and Scotland generated 14.1GW of low-carbon electricity at lunchtime on Monday, surpassing the previous high of 14GW in July last year.And that record was toppled a day later when power generation from the sun’s energy climbed to another new high of 14.4GW on Tuesday afternoon.The electricity system operator confirmed the new high as the government approved plans for the UK’s biggest solar farm to go ahead in Lincolnshire.Ministers said the decision to support the Springwell solar farm in Lincolnshire built on their plan to “bring stability and lower bills in an uncertain world” by increasing homegrown low-carbon energy.The project is expected to provide enough electricity to power the equivalent of 180,000 homes a year when generating at its maximum capacity.The approval for Springwell comes six months after the government backed the Tillbridge solar farm, another super-sized facility in Lincolnshire, an area where Reform UK’s anti-renewables agenda has won rising support.It is the 25th large-scale clean energy project approved by the Labour government since it came to power in 2024. Together, these could generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of up to 12.5m homes.The solar record was confirmed less than a fortnight after Britain’s windfarms drove gas-fired power generation to a two-year low by reaching a record high.Towards the end of last month, wind power climbed to a new high of 23.9GW, beating the previous record of 23.8GW set on 5 December, to generate the equivalent of enough electricity to power 23m homes.At the time, gas-fired power was used to provide just 2.3% of the grid’s electricity, in a test of the government’s plan to run a virtually carbon-free grid by 2030. The electricity system operator is understood to be preparing to run the grid without any gas for short periods as soon as this summer, in a first for the UK energy system.Michael Shanks, the energy minister, said: “We are driving further and faster for clean homegrown power that we control to protect the British people and bring down bills for good. It is crucial we learn the lessons of the conflict in the Middle East – solar is one of the cheapest forms of power available and is how we get off the rollercoaster of international fossil fuel markets and secure our own energy independence.”The government has streamlined plans to bring “plug-in solar” to the UK, and updated building standards to require solar panels for new homes from 2028.