Renewable power share in UK at 23.5% in Q3 2015

The share of renewables in UK power generation was 23.5% in the third quarter of 2015, up from 17.6% a year ago and down from the record 25.3% in the preceding quarter.

The country produced 17.8 TWh of renewable electricity in the period under review, according to new figures by the government. The table below gives details on the generation by source.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) showed the highest increase in generation, mainly thanks to a surge in deployment over the past months, following policy changes. Large-scale solar PV resulted in capacity additions of over 3.9 GW in the third quarter alone.

Bioenergy generation was the most significant contributor to the renewables total, thanks to the full conversion of a third unit at the Drax power station at Derby from coal to biomass in July 2015.

The total renewable power capacity stood at 29.7 GW at the end of September, including 6.1 GW added during the quarter.

Overall, the share of low-carbon generation in the UK power mix rose to 45.3% in July-September 2015 from 38.1% a year before. The decline in coal and gas generation has been offset by a rise in generation from renewables and nuclear.

For biofuels, however, the picture was not that bright. The share of liquid biofuels of petrol and diesel consumed in road transport went down to 3.3% from 4.2%. More specifically, biodiesel consumption fell by 35% in annual terms and bioethanol consumption was down by 3.3%.

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