Efficiency of Electricity Generation and Distribution - UK

The table below gives the mean power plant energy consumption and CO₂ emission to produce 1 kWh of electric energy for the UK as an annual time series. The table shows the non-renewable thermal gross energy consumed at the power station and the mass of CO₂ emitted, in order to produce 1 kWh at the consumer's meter. It provides a standardised model for the effect of electricity usage in the UK cement industry, and is not intended to be applicable in any other context. It accounts for a number of factors:

• The mean annual weighting of generator types - e.g. thermal (coal, oil, gas, etc), nuclear, hydro etc.
• The mean annual gross energy conversion efficiency for the thermal plants
• Mean annual pre-consumer energy losses: energy used at the power plant, pumped storage losses and transmission losses

The data are based largely on a critical re-calculation of the DECC historical data supplied by the UK Government, with extrapolation to earlier years based on a knowledge of earlier generation processes.

Note 1.