New record shows wind energy playing a large part in UK power

The government’s annual record for energy use shows wind power has reached its highest level of output.

The annual ‘Energy Trends’ report comes from the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy and showed that wind energy provided a record 17.1% of the UK’s energy last year. Previously in 2017 wind energy provided 14.8% of the country’s energy and overall 29.3% came from renewable energy.

The report shows an increase in renewable energy overall with a third of energy consumption coming from renewables and an increase to 52.8% for overall low carbon energy including nuclear power. Coal power dropped to a record low of 5% and nearly 40% came from gas power.

RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Emma Pinchbeck said: “These record breaking figures demonstrate the unstoppable momentum for renewables, with spectacular global cost reductions in onshore and offshore wind, as well as battery storage, being reported this week by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.”

“Wind power in the UK is driving a transformation in energy, to clean, affordable and flexible power that works hand in hand with exciting technologies of the future like storage and EVs.”

“We need Government to fully recognise that renewables are the future in our energy policy – from fair markets for flexible power and innovation funding for new technologies, to removing the obstacles in the way of our cheapest form of generation: onshore wind.”

The report also shows that in the final quarter of 2018, running from October to December, a quarterly record of 31.7% of the UK’s electricity came from renewables. The report attributes this rise in large part to wind, which generated 21.5% of power in the same section.

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