The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has revealed that the UK’s solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity grew by 5.3% in 2022.
According to new data from DESNZs 2022 Energy Trends, this represents a 19% contribution to the growth of the UK’s overall renewable generation capacity that year, which increased by 7.7% to 53.5GW.
The South West held the largest share of new solar PV capacity at 20%, which came primarily from the 40MW South Farm Solar Park in Dorset.
Largest new solar PV schemes (including capacity increases) in 2022:
Overall, the majority of the total renewable capacity growth in the UK was attributed to Scotland, (13%) followed by England at 6.9%, Wales (1.2%), and Northern Ireland (0.7%).
Renewable capacity at the end of 2022 by technology and country:
The technology which experienced the most growth in capacity was offshore wind, which grew by 24%, accounting for 69% of the UK’s total renewable capacity growth.
Renewable generation also increased by 10.5% to 134.9TWh in 2022 and Scotland once again, held the lion’s share with 29.4% of this new generation attributed to the country, followed by Northern Ireland at 16.4%, Wales at 5.1%, and England had the lowed increase in generation at 4.4%.
This article first featured on our sister site Current News and can be found here.