UK wind provides 60% of renewable energy in Q1

UK: Figures from the government's Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) show that more than 60% of the UK's renewable energy came from wind projects in the first quarter of 2014.

by David Weston 26 June 2014

Gwynt y Mor helped to boost UK wind production

Onshore wind provided 37% of all renewable energy, while offshore projects supplied 24%.

Offshore wind provided 4.4TWh in Q1, compared with 2.5TWh in the same period in 2013, with onshore producing 6.6TWh – up from 4.0TWh last year.

The increase is being attributed to increased capacity and higher wind speeds.

The average wind speed for the quarter was 5.65 metres per second, up from 4.4m/s in 2013. Decc said wind speeds in February averaged 6.7m/s, which were the highest since January 2007.

Overall, renewable energy projects produced 19.4% of the UK's electricity in the first quarter of 2014. In the first quarter of 2013, renewables supplied 12.3% of the UK's power.

They provided a record 18.1TWh of electricity to the UK in the first three months of 2014 – a year-on-year increase of 43%.