http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/articles/i/5414/?cid=3

Energy generation from coal was up nearly 60% in the UK during the second quarter of the year, according to the latest statistics from the government, which also reveal a 6.5% boost in renewables generation.

The Energy Trends and Quarterly Energy Prices published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) reveal that energy consumption - particularly domestic consumption - was significantly up on the same period last year because of the colder weather.

Coal saw a big resurgence at the expense of gas, which fell to a 14-year low for second quarter share, because of high prices.

Renewables, meanwhile, saw their share of electricity generation increase from 9.0% over the same quarter last year to 9.6% this year.

The major boost came from offshore wind generation, which increased 46.7%, while onshore wind generation was down 11.4% down and hydro generation was down 31.3% because of lower rainfall.

Renewable capacity now stands at 14.2 GW, an increase of over 42% on a year ago, with total electricity generation reaching 8.1 TWh - a 6.5% increase on the same quarter last year.

Thanks to the high uptake of solar photovoltaics boosted by the feed-in tariff and the conversion of the Tilbury B power station to biomass, England for the first time has nearly one-fifth more renewable generation capacity than Scotland.