UK wind power output increases by 39% in one year

Statistics released by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that the United Kingdom generated over 5 TWh of electricity from renewable energy in the third quarter (Q3) of 2009, an increase of 25% compared with Q3 2008. Output from wind turbines increased 38.9%.

As a result of the economic downturn, total inland consumption of all energy dropped 6.3% from Q3 2008, to 208 million tonnes of oil equivalent. Consumption of coal dropped 20%, oil fell 6% and gas consumption fell by 6.2%, while primary electricity consumption rose 34% due to increased output from nuclear reactors.

Of all electricity in Q3 2009, gas generated a record share of 52% while nuclear increased by 47% over Q3 2008, to account for 20% of the national total, and exceeding the share from coal for the first time since 1999.

The share of renewable energy in total UK energy supply rose 2 percentage points, to account for 7% in Q3 2009, the report notes.

DECC also released annual energy statistics from 2008, which show that 8.9 GWh of electricity was generated from renewables in 2008, an increase of 9% over 2007. The share from wind, wave and solar increased by 26%, mainly attributable to wind.