Great Britain's (GB) solar power fleet set a new generation record on 23 April as an anticyclonic blocking pattern brought strong irradiance across southern England.
Combined metered and embedded solar output hit a record 15.4GW on 23 April, surpassing the 14.8GW set the previous day, grid operator Neso data show. The peak came around midday, when solar output accounted for 45pc of the power mix. Both days cleared the previous all-time high of 14.05GW set in July 2025, with 22 April itself having broken that record less than 24 hours earlier. Output remained elevated at 15.2GW on 24 April.
Clear skies and dry continental air driven by an anticyclonic blocking pattern across northern Europe have brought strong irradiance across southern England this week. Afternoon relative humidity was as low as 25-30pc in some areas, reducing atmospheric absorption and increasing the intensity of solar generation through the midday hours, according to UK weather agency the Met Office. GB's installed solar capacity stood at 21.6GW as of February, putting the 23 April peak at around 71pc utilisation.
The same high-pressure system that delivered the solar record weighed on wind output. Metered wind output averaged just 3.3GW on 23 April, down from 8.1GW the previous day and falling as low as 2.2GW during individual half-hour periods.
National demand on 23 April troughed at around 16.65GW in mid-afternoon before climbing by nearly 13GW to a peak of 29.51GW by early evening. Gas-fired generation rose from around 1.6GW at the midday solar peak to 8.7GW by 20:30 local time.
But the record solar days of 22, 23 and 24 April passed without a single negative period on the N2EX day-ahead exchange. The last negative periods on N2EX were on 12 April, when 12 hourly periods cleared below zero on a Sunday combining strong solar and wind output. The wind deficit on 23 April kept residual demand high enough through the afternoon to hold prices positive, with the evening ramp supporting the call on gas-fired generation.
Embedded solar forecasts over the next week point to peaks of 13.2GW on 25 April and 13GW on 29 April, with output ranging between 10.2GW and 13.2GW on other days next week, as the high-pressure weather pattern shows little sign of easing before the end of April.
