UK renewables provided nearly one-third of total electricity generation in Q2, setting a new record.
Statistics released by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy late last week revealed that in the three months from 1 April 2017 renewables’ share of electricity generation reached 29.8%.
That was 4.4% up year-on-year and a new record for the UK, as clean energy continued to eat away at the share of legacy fossil fuel generators.
Renewable generators produced 22.5TWh of electricity throughout the quarter which, while 13.6% up year-on-year, was more than 10% lower than the peak quarterly renewables generation of 25TWh set in the previous quarter.
Total renewables capacity in the UK at the end of Q2 2017 topped 38GW, an increase of more than 4.4GW compared to Q2 2016. A majority of this was derived from onshore wind, with around 25% originating from solar PV driven by the closure of the Renewables Obligation scheme on 31 March 2017.
But while large-scale developments contributed significantly towards added generation capacity, the problems felt by the small-scale industries were laid bare as the statistics showed that just 39MW of feed-in tariff-eligible renewables was installed in Q2.
