The Engineer

Wind contributes bigger share to UK's energy supply

News

The contribution of wind to the UK’s energy supply in the fourth quarter of 2010 increased by 24 per cent compared with the same quarter the year before.

This statement comes from latest figures on UK electricity production released by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Significantly, for the first time, wind contributed more than 10 terawatt hours (TWh) in a single year, representing growth of 7.7 per cent on 2009.

Alex Murley, Renewable UK’s head of technical affairs, said that the contribution of wind in 2010 to the UK’s electricity supply was almost three times that of hydro, totalling more than 10TWh.

Renewable UK’s latest estimates show that in addition to the current installed capacity of 5.2GW, at least 3GW is expected to come on stream by the end of 2012, increasing the annual contribution of electricity generated from wind to around 22TWh.