U.K. Renewables Generated Record Electricity in Second Quarter
The U.K. got more than a quarter of its electricity from renewables in the second quarter, a record.
Wind, hydro and solar plants generated 25.3 percent of the country’s power in the three months through June, up from 22.6 percent in the first quarter of the year and 16.7 percent in the same period last year, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said in a statement on its website.
U.K. Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has announced cuts to a slew of incentives for renewable energy, citing unexpectedly high installation levels that threaten to eat up the subsidy budget. Even so, the country aims to generate more than 30 percent of its power from renewables by 2020 as part of efforts to meet a wider European Union target of deriving 15 percent of all energy for heat, power and transport from renewables.
Higher wind speeds and increased capacity led to 62 percent more power from onshore wind and 70 percent more power from offshore wind than a year ago, DECC said. Generation from solar photovoltaic panels more than doubled.