Renewables bring record 47% of UK's power in Q1

Renewables were responsible for 47% of the UK’s total power generation in the first quarter of 2020, reaching a new record thanks to the increased output of wind parks.

The share increased from 35.9% in the first three months of 2019, statistics by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) show. According to the data, released last week, the UK’s renewable power plants produced 40.8 TWh of electricity, up 29.8% in annual terms thanks to capacity additions, higher average wind speeds and increased rainfall volumes.

Wind and solar parks were the largest contributors, bringing 32.2% of first-quarter power generation. While generation from both onshore and offshore wind farms improved, production from solar photovoltaic (PV) plants was lower than in the year-ago period due to a drop in the average solar irradiation.

More details about each technology can be seen in the table below.

At the end of March, the UK had 47.4 GW of installed renewables capacity, or 5.2% more as compared to March 2019.

BEIS also said that, based on provisional calculations, renewables met 13.2% of final energy consumption in 2019, up from 12% in 2018.

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