The United Kingdom has 3,216 power plants in this atlas, with 113,093 MW of reported capacity (reported for 3,166 of them). The largest listed plant is Pembroke (2,180 MW, gas; current status unverified). By number of records the most common technologies are solar, wind and biomass. Grid operators listed here include SONI and NESO. Electricity is regulated by Ofgem and Utility Regulator. Renewables supplied 50.7% of its electricity in 2024.
Reported capacity is the rated size of the listed installations, not electricity being produced now. Source dates and coverage differ, so newer facilities may be absent and historical records may remain.
THE ELECTRICITY SYSTEM IN CONTEXT
United Kingdom: wind growth, gas generation and changing plant status
Reporting scope: 2024 UK generation; Great Britain operator scope.
A historical list is not today's generating fleet
DUKES 2025 reports that renewables supplied 50.4% of UK electricity generation in 2024, while gas remained the largest individual fuel. It also records the closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar in September 2024, ending UK coal-fired power generation. A coal station retained in a historical inventory is not evidence that it is still generating.
NESO identifies its system-operator remit as Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales. Do not assume a UK-wide generation statistic has the same geographic scope as a Great Britain operational dashboard. Check the separate Northern Ireland organisations in the grid directory when following records there.
By Power Stations Worldwide · Context sources checked · Review scope. This date does not update the underlying plant inventory or electricity series.
Grid operators and electricity market in the United Kingdom
Liberalised marketCompetitive generation and retail
Gas and wind are the main sources, with nuclear, solar and imports. Generators and suppliers trade bilaterally and on exchanges; Ofgem's price cap limits standard household tariffs. Northern Ireland is part of the all-island Single Electricity Market.
NESO, a public corporation, runs the grid in Great Britain; National Grid, SP Energy Networks and SSEN own the transmission lines, and 14 regional distribution areas deliver power. SONI and NIE Networks serve Northern Ireland.
Great Britain runs its own synchronous grid, linked to Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark by undersea direct-current cables.
Ireland and Northern Ireland share one synchronous grid and a Single Electricity Market, connected to Great Britain by undersea cables.
What does “Liberalised market” mean?
Generators sell into a wholesale market, an independent operator runs the transmission grid, and households can choose their electricity supplier. Networks stay regulated monopolies because building parallel power lines makes no sense.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland have separate system operators and wholesale market arrangements. Network owners and local distribution companies are additional organisations.
References reviewed 2026-09-29. Logos are each organisation’s own site icon, shown to identify it. Selected organisations, not an exhaustive list of licence holders.
United Kingdom is in Northern Europe. Its coastal or island geography provides a different setting for electricity infrastructure from inland systems. This profile connects country reference information with the historical station inventory and reported electricity generation.
Capital
London
Languages
English
Region
Northern Europe
Geographic reference: Countries geographic database (ODbL). Boundaries and names are for orientation; language listings are introductory, not exhaustive. Banner map: Natural Earth boundaries (public domain) with this atlas’s station records.
The source inventory contains 3,216 records for United Kingdom. Select a fuel in the map to explore where its stations are located, then open a record to inspect reported capacity and provenance.
Inventory coverage
3,216 source records. 3,127 reported operational in their source snapshot; this is not live status.
Browse 3,216 source records, ordered by reported capacity. Ownership and operating status describe the source snapshot; they may have changed. Missing information is shown explicitly.
