Wednesday 30 June 2010

Renewables account for 3.1% of UK energy in 2009

Renewables accounted for 3.1% of the UK's primary energy requirements in 2009 - up 0.4% from the year before, according to the latest statistics published by Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

The figure - which includes renewables used for transport and heat as well as electricity generation - is up from 2.6% in 2008 and 2.2% in 2007.

When measured using the slightly different methodology of the 2008 EU Renewable Energy Directive - which measures energy on a net calorific value basis and includes a cap on fuel used for aviation - this equates to 3% of energy consumption coming from renewables.

This is up from 2.4% in 2008 and 1.8% in 2007 and means that the UK is now one-fifth of the way towards meeting its Directive target to produce 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

The data was contained in a special feature, entitled ‘Renewable Energy in 2009' which was published by DECC yesterday (June 24) alongside its June edition of Energy Trends and Quarterly Energy Prices.

The article updates information on renewable energy published by DECC in June 2009, looks at the latest position and provides the first look at the statistics on renewable energy production and use in the UK in 2009. It also breaks down energy generation by source and type - including electricity, heat production and renewable fuels.

Electricity

For electricity, the figures show that 6.6% of that sold by licensed suppliers in the UK was generated from renewables eligible for the Renewables Obligation, up from a revised 5.3% in 2008.

Wind continued to be the leading renewable technology for generating electricity (37%), with hydro second (21 %), followed closely by landfill gas (20%). Generation from wind was four percentage points higher than in 2008, whilst hydro's contribution was three percentage points lower.

Total electricity capacity in 2009 amounted to more than 8GW, compared with 6.8GW in 2008 - an increase of 1.2GW (18%). The main contributors to this increase were 663MW from onshore wind (+24%), 355MW from offshore wind (+61%), 81MW from plant biomass (+41%) and 77MW (+8%) from landfill gas.

Heat

For renewable heat, which is produced from around 14% of renewable sources, the main sources were found to be direct combustion of biomass (93%), active solar heating and geothermal aquifers. Domestic use of wood is the main contributor to renewable heat (39%) followed by plant biomass (21%) and industrial use of wood and wood waste (17%).

While use of renewable heat has historically been on the decline, the report noted that it had started to grow and "further significant growth" was anticipated, due to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which is expected to provide a financial incentive from April 2011.

Transport fuel

Liquid biofuels for transport comprised nearly 15% of total renewable sources in 2009. In this period, 1,044 million litres of biodiesel and 317 million litres of bioethanol were consumed up from 886 million litres and 206 million litres in 2008 respectively. Biodiesel accounted for 4.2% of diesel, and bioethanol 1.4% of motor spirit. Their combined contribution was 2.9%.

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