U.K. Zeroes In on Clean Energy Target

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- The U.K. is on target to hit its energy goal of generating 15% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020.

The latest figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that renewable energy accounted for more than 10% of all electricity generated up to July 2012. This marked an increase of 27%, with renewables supplying 37.9 terawatt hours (TWh) from a total installed base of 14,400-megawatts (MW).

A surge in growth from the wind sector was key to the strong 2012 growth. Both offshore and onshore wind showed a marked increase in installed capacity, with offshore rising by 60% to 2,500 MW and onshore wind growing 24% to 5,300 MW between July 2011 and July 2012.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) recorded the highest growth up to mid-2012, according to the Renewable Energy Roadmap Update 2012 report, with more than a five-fold increase in capacity to 1,400 MW by the end of June 2012. The Update also showed that around 14TWh of U.K. heat was generated from renewable sources, a modest 5% increase over the previous year.

"Renewable energy is increasingly powering the U.K.'s grid, and the economy too," explained Edward Davey, Energy and Climate Change Secretary. "It's a fantastic achievement that more than ten percent of our power now comes from renewables, given the point from which we started. Right now, getting new infrastructure investment into the economy is crucial to driving growth and supporting jobs across the country. I am determined that we get ahead in the global race on renewables and build on the big-money investments we've seen this year".

While renewable energy is on the rise, last week the U.K. revealed an unexpected jump in the use of coal for electricity generation. For Q3 2012, coal recorded its strongest quarter in 14 years, accounting for 35.4% of the electricity generated, up almost 50% on third quarter figures from 2011. High gas prices in Europe were blamed for the surge in coal-use. For additional information, see January 8, 2013, article - Coal Dominates U.K. Energy Mix in Q3.

John Hayes, Minister of State for Energy, said: "Energy is crucial to our economic well-being, bringing in major investment and supporting jobs across the country. I firmly believe that a diverse energy mix is the best way to ensure our energy security. It is extremely encouraging that we have made such positive steps on renewable energy as part of that mix."

Last month, the U.K.'s coalition government formerly introduced its 'radical' Energy Bill, which it claimed will boost renewable energy investment, spur on a new wave of nuclear projects and combat a looming energy shortage. For additional information, see December 3, 2012, article - U.K. Introduces 'Radical' Energy Bill.

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