UK’s Offshore Wind Generation Increases 50 Pct in Q1

June 28, 2012

Energy Trends and Quarterly Energy Prices publications are published today 28 June 2012 by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Energy Trends covers statistics on energy production and consumption, in total and by fuel, and provides an analysis of the year on year changes, and now includes a section on renewables.

Quarterly Energy Prices covers prices to domestic and industrial consumers, prices of oil products and comparisons of international fuel prices.

The main points for the first quarter of 2012 are:

Indigenous production of fuels in the UK fell by 11.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2012
compared with a year earlier. Production of oil fell by 13.0 per cent whilst gas fell by 14.1 per cent as a result of maintenance work and slowdowns on a number of fields.
Total primary energy consumption for energy uses fell by 2.3 per cent. However, when adjusted to take account of weather differences between 2011 and 2012, primary energy consumption fell by 1.1 per cent.
Of electricity generated in the first quarter of 2012, gas accounted for 27 per cent (its lowest share in the last fourteen years) due to high gas prices, whilst coal accounted for 42 per cent. Nuclear generation accounted for 17 per cent of total electricity generated in the first quarter of 2012, a decrease from the 19 per cent share in the first quarter of 2011.
Onshore wind showed the highest absolute increase in generation in the first quarter of 2012, increasing by 51 per cent, from 2.4 TWh in the first quarter of 2011 to 3.6 TWh, as a result of much increased capacity. Large increases in generation were also seen in hydro (up 43 per cent – due to high winter rainfall), offshore wind (up 50 per cent) and bioenergy (up 21 per cent due in part to the conversion of Tilbury B to dedicated biomass).
In addition, an article on renewables in 2011 (page 49 of Energy Trends) shows that renewable energy accounted for 3.8 per cent of energy consumption compared to 3.2 per cent in 2010, as measured against the 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive.

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Offshore WIND staff, June 28, 2012; Image: Vattenfall