‘Energy bible’ shows record share of generation for renewables

Renewables’ share of the electricity generation rose by 4 percentage points during 2019 to reach a new record of 37.1 per cent, according to the latest edition of the annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES).

Their output grew by 9.5 per cent compared to the year before to 121TWh. Wind alone accounted for a fifth of all generation – 10 per cent each from onshore and offshore – another new record.

The report – published the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and sometimes referred to as the government’s “energy bible” – also showed coal’s share once again falling from 5.1 per cent in 2018 to just 2.1 per cent last year.

Renewables, including biomass, are now fast approaching gas as the UK’s largest source of electricity, which nevertheless saw its share rise by 1.1 percentage point to 40.6 per cent. This was partly due to a reduction in output from nuclear plants, which saw their share drop by 2.3 percentage points to 17.3 per cent following a series of prolonged outages.

“Today’s figures confirm just how far we’ve come in the revolution in power generation,” said Renewable UK deputy chief executive Melanie Onn. “In 2010, less than 7 per cent of our electricity came from renewables. Now it’s 37 per cent.

“But we know that to tackle the existential threat of climate change, we need to decarbonise not just electricity, but also heating and transport, where progress has been glacial. We need innovative power sources like floating wind, wave and tidal power, renewable hydrogen and a massive expansion in battery storage to get us to net zero emissions as fast as possible, so there’s no time to rest on our laurels”.

REA chief executive Nina Skorupska said: “The growth of renewable electricity in the UK continues to be a major success story. The UK continues to break records and the success of getting to just under 40 per cent renewable electricity generation in little over decade needs to be celebrated.

“However, the slow and modest growth of decarbonising heat and transport also needs to be highlighted. The UK’s success in power decarbonisation is not yet being replicated in these hard to treat sectors.”

BEIS also released its latest quarterly Energy Trends statistics, which showed big increases in renewable generation over the three months to the end of March. Output grew by 30 per cent when compared to the same quarter last year to around 41TWh, pushing renewables’ share of generation to 47 per cent.

Meanwhile, gas output fell by more than a quarter to around 27TWh, dropping its share of the generation mix by 10.4 percentage points to 31.4 per cent. Coal’s share rose by 0.3 percentage points to 3.8 per cent as Fiddler’s Ferry burnt off its remaining fuel stock before closing.

The overall amount of electricity generated fell 1.4 per cent to roughly 87TWh – the lowest first quarter figure ever reported in the data series.