It was not only the Christmas Day for U.K., but also the day that the nation reached a new milestone of renewable energy. Data shows that more than 40% of U.K.’s electricity was supplied from renewable resources including wind and solar PV, and the figure was the highest in the nation’s history.
Despite of the cloudy and rainy weather, U.K. remains one of the largest solar markets in Europe. Its demand to onshore and offshore wind power are also strong. U.K.’s renewable electricity proportion has been increasing year by year due to the country’s aggressive promotion, which led to over 40% to countrywide power supply on December 25, 2016, the Christmas Day.
Drax Power, a power group, unveiled its analysis and pointed out that wind accounted for approximately 75% of the renewable energy generated on the Christmas Day of 2016, while solar PV contributed the majority of the remaining 25%. Comparing with the portions of the Christmas Day of 2015 and 2012, 2016’s figure significantly improved by 63% and 195%, respectively.
PV Tech noted that the renewable sources generated 12.4GW of electricity on December 25, 2016.
“These Christmas figures show that the U.K. energy system really is changing,” said Drax Power CEO Andy Koss and cited by PV Tech. “Renewables are increasingly vital to the U.K.’s energy mix as we decarbonize and move away from coal.”
(Photo Credit: Dominic Alves via Flickr shared by CC 2.0)
