//...solar is making a good contribution... we'd be lost without it.//
Must get lost every night, then (with some of them being 16 hours long in the winter).
At this very moment, gas is providing 45% of the Grid's requirements. Nuclear 13%. Wind - in spite of literally billions of pounds being invested in it - is running at 3.5%. Solar is currently providing an estimated 23% (though this is probably overstated). That 23% will drop to zero around 8-9pm (coincidentally when it gets dark and people start turning their lights on).
The two principal types of "renewable" energy are wind and solar. Wind hasn't been having a very good time in the past few weeks, with a large anticyclone firmly wedged over the country. Solar has - but only during the day. There are long periods in this country when neither the sun shines nor the wind blows. Depending on these sources for electricity is utter madness and, since successive governments have caved in to eco campaigners who are, for some reason, averse to nuclear energy production and burning coal, the only realistic backup is gas and it will continue to be so forever (because there will always be periods when solar and wind do not suffice). The energy produced by these two methods is not "free". The capital expenditure required is enormous and it will be an ongoing investment because the earlier wind generators are beginning to reach the end of their lifespan.
This country has adequate supplies of fossil fuels and had (but now longer has) plenty of time to exploit them. Every time this topic arises I end by saying that the government's energy strategy - particularly its absurd obsession with its ridiculous "net zero" target - will impoverish this nation together with all the businesses and individuals in it. I am often told I am being silly. If that is the case why is this question being asked (again)?
The "net zero" chickens, my fellow AB-ers, are coming home to roost and if the government thinks it can get round this by meeting some of the "most vulnerable" people's leccy bills, they are sadly mistaken.