In 2022, 40% of the UK's electricity came from renewables. After gas, wind was the second largest source of electricity (26.8%), solar represented 4.4%, biomass 5.2% and hydro 1.8%.

Targets for renewable energy have not been enshrined in regulation and are instead set out in government strategy documents. 

The Net Zero Strategy (2021) includes the target for the UK to be powered entirely by 'clean electricity' (which includes from nuclear power as well as renewables), subject to security of supply, by 2035.

The British Energy Security Strategy (2022) includes a target for up to 50 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

The UK government has incentivized the development of renewable energy projects with schemes such as Contracts for Difference (CfD). A CfD is a private contract between a low-carbon electricity generator and the Low Carbon Contracts Company, a company owned by the UK government. A CfD reduces the exposure of electricity generators to volatile wholesale prices and is intended to compensate the generator for the potentially high cost of investing in low-carbon technology. However, offshore wind developers did not place any bids in the fifth auction round (March 2023). The government's Climate Change Committee considered that this was because the pricing offered to offshore wind generators had not been adjusted to reflect significant increases in supply chain and development costs.

For small-scale generators of renewable electricity, the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariff pays for any power they export to the national grid. It applies to solar, onshore wind, anaerobic digestion and hydro installations of up to 5 megawatts, and micro-CHP (combined heat and power) that can produce electricity of up to 50 kilowatts.

In the domestic heating sector, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) provides grants to eligible households in England and Wales to cover part of the cost of replacing a gas, oil or electric heating system with a heat pump or biomass boiler. In this area, the government had a Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), but this closed to new applicants in March 2022.

The government published its first Hydrogen Strategy in 2022, which sets out ambitions for increasing the use of low-carbon hydrogen (not all hydrogen is low-carbon) across different economic sectors, including delivering a 5-gigawatt production ambition by 2030.

There is concern that limitations in the UK's electricity grid infrastructure, and increasing competition for grid connections, are likely to slow down the deployment of new projects in the coming years. Battery storage is likely to be an important component to renewable energy projects, especially where generators do not wish to export electricity to the grid.