Renewables produce 29% of UK’s power in Q1

April 13, 2018  – Renewables accounted for 29% of the UK power in the first quarter of 2018, with generation outpacing that of coal and nuclear power plants combined for the first time, according to data by EnAppSys.

With record-high output of 25.0 TWh in the three months, renewables were the second largest aggregated power generation source after gas power. Generation from renewable power plants increased from 22.09 TWh in the year-ago period and from 22.10 TWh in the preceding quarter.

The largest contributor for the increased output was wind, as wind parks in the country produced 15.8 TWh of power, up 39% in annual terms. Thanks to the favourable wind conditions, wind farms set new records for half hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly levels of generation.

Overall, wind was responsible for 63.1% of the quarterly renewables output. A total of 23.5% renewable generation came from biomass plants. Solar provided 7.4% of all renewables’ output and hydropower accounted for 6%.

According to EnAppSys, gas-fired plants produced 32.15 TWh and provided 37.3% of UK’s total power in January-March. The shares of coal and nuclear were 9.4% and 18.1%, with generation standing at 8.13 TWh and 15.60 TWh, respectively.

Wind turbines in UK. Author: .Martin. License: Creative Commons. Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic