UK government releases first statistics on renewables
LONDON, England, July 13, 2005 (Refocus Weekly)
Green heat sources in Britain provided the equivalent of 669,000 tonnes of oil last year, slightly above the level of 2003, according to government statistics.
Biofuels provide 96% of green heat production in the UK, with the balance
coming from active solar heating and geothermal heat pumps, explains a summary
of renewable energies produced by the Department of Trade & Industry. The 2004
summary is published for the first time, and a full set of renewable energy
statistics will be released later this summer.
When green heat is combined with green power from electricity generation,
renewable energy sources accounted for 1.7% of the UK’s total primary energy
requirements last year, up from 1.5% in 2003 and 1.4% in 2002, the report
explains.
For electricity generation only, renewables as a percentage of total national
generation rose to 3.6% in 2004 using the international definition of renewables.
On the same basis in 2003, the contribution was 2.7%.
Last year, the sale of electricity from sources eligible for the Renewables
Obligation (RO) was 3.1%, up from 2.2% in 2003. Total green power generation
from all renewable sources in 2004 was 14,171 GWh, with wind growing by 52%,
generation from landfill gas by 22% and from the co-firing of biomass with
fossil fuels by 70% over 2003, it adds.
By the end of 2004, 433 projects contracted under the Non Fossil Fuel Obligation
(NFFO), the Scottish Renewables Orders (SRO) and the Northern IreIand-NFFO had
been commissioned with a total capacity of 1,140 MW. Total capacity of
renewables in the UK by the end of last year 3,050 MW.
Collection of statistics on renewables started in 1989, when all relevant
renewable energy sources were identified, and includes active solar heating,
solar PV, onshore and offshore wind, wave power, large and small scale hydro,
biofuels and geothermal aquifers. Prior to 2004, energy from waste was included
in the renewables data but the international definition of renewables now
excludes non-biodegradable wastes.
“Until 2000, the main instruments for pursuing the development of renewables
capacity were the Non Fossil Fuel Obligation Orders for England and Wales and
for Northern Ireland, and Scottish Renewable Obligation Orders,” it explains.
The RO allows premium prices to be paid for electricity for a fixed period.
Since 2000, the UK renewables policy expanded to four key strands, including a
RO on all electricity suppliers in Britain to supply a specific proportion of
electricity from eligible renewables, exemption of green power from the Climate
Change Levy, an expanded support program for renewables including capital grants
and an expanded research program, and development of a regional strategic
approach to planning and targets for renewables.
The 2001 Renewables Directive of the European Union proposes that member
countries adopt national targets for renewables that are consistent with
reaching the overall EU target of 12% of energy (22.1% of electricity) from
renewables by 2010, and the proposed UK share of this target is that renewables
should account for 10% of UK electricity consumption by 2010.
Electricity generated by hydro stations with a net capacity above 10 MW is not
exempt from
the Climate Change Levy.
In 2002, the new RO for England and Wales and the analogous RO for Scotland came
into effect, and Northern Ireland now has introduced a similar RO which took
effect in April of this year.
Renewables provided 3.6% of electricity generated in the UK last year, 0.9
percentage points higher than 2003. Total green power generation was 14,171 GWh,
3,533 GWh higher than over 2003, of which 1,702 GWh of the increase came from
hydro schemes, 728 from landfill gas, 650 from wind and 420 GWh from co-firing
of biomass with fossil fuels.
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