Onset temperature of intrinsic pinning in a REBCO coated conductor from critical current anisotropy

•A detailed analysis is given of the evolution with temperature of the angle dependence of critical current in a REBCO coated conductor.•Particular attention is given to the development of the ubiquitous ab-plane peak for field parallel to the plane of the tape. We highlight that this peak appears as the result of two distinct mechanisms, stacking faults at higher temperatures and intrinsic pinning at lower temperatures.•This peak is unusually weak at 77 K, due to process conditions favouring a low density of stacking fault defects.•The peak grows rapidly with decreasing temperature relative to the c-axis critical current starting from 60 K, signalling the onset of intrinsic pinning by the layered structure of REBCO.•This growth is quantified through fitting with maximum entropy functions.•The angle dependence of n-values is also shown. With decreasing temperature, the ab-plane feature appears first as a dip at 65 K, then a sharper peak starting from 45 K. Both of these features broaden with decreasing temperature.