http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/articles/i/5230/?cid=3

 

The UK has seen a 36% increase in renewable electricity capacity in the last 12 months to reach 13 GW, according to the latest official statistics.

 

The June 2012 edition of Energy Trends reports that renewable electricity generation reached 11.1 TWh in the first quarter of 2012, taking renewables' share of electricity generated from 7.7% in the same period last year to 11.1%.

Onshore wind power, despite its unpopularity in some quarters, showed the highest increase in the first quarter of the year up 51% to 3.6 TWh for the same period last year.

Meanwhile, offshore wind was up only slightly less at 50%, thanks to the recent commissioning of large projects like Walney I and II off the Cumbrian coast.

A silver lining of the recent higher than average rainfall is a 43% increase in hydro power.

But as far as the EU Renewable Energy Directive, the UK has still only reached 3.8% renewable energy consumption against a target of 15% by 2020 - although 2011 did see a modest 0.6% increase on the previous year.

While renewable capacity is up and primary energy consumption saw a modest decrease of 1.1% in the first quarter, consumption of coal and other solid fuel rose 16.5% as more is being used in electricity generation. The rise is in part due to increasing gas prices, which pushed consumption down 10%.

So although overall, low carbon generation accounted for 28.4% in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 26.6% in the same period of 2011, indicating a minor improvement, coal still accounts for 42.3%.
But Energy Minister Charles Hendry remained upbeat about the results.

"[The] statistics show a clear increase on the first quarter of last year across all renewables - with rises in wind, hydro, solar and bioenergy generation," he said in a statement. "The UK is powering forward on clean and secure energy and is clearly a very attractive place to invest."