Electricity from renewables up 25%
Electricity produced from renewables technologies increased by more than a quarter during the third quarter of 2012, as a result of increased wind capacity.
Figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that during this period, 9.49TWh of electricity was produced from renewables – a 25.2% increase on the same period in 2011.
Low carbon generation, including renewables, accounted for 34% of electricity generation – up from 28% in the same period in 2011.
Onshore wind generation increased by 38.2% as a result of increased capacity, but generation from hydro fell by 16.2% due to lower rainfall in the north of Scotland.
Renewable electricity capacity was 14.9GW at the end of the third quarter of 2012 – up 42.1% on the year before and up 4.4% on the previous quarter.
The share of liquid biofuels of petrol and diesel consumed in road transport fell from 3.9% to 2.7% due to a 63% fall in biodiesel consumption following the end of duty relief on cooking oil used for biodiesel on 31 March 2012.
Figures released for 2011 show the share of renewables production increased across the UK as a result of increased capacity and higher rainfall and wind speeds.
That year, Scotland’s renewable electricity target – for renewable electricity generation to reach 31% of gross consumption by 2011 – was passed, and 36.3% of gross electricity consumption came from renewable electricity generation.
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