UK renewables set a new generation record in the second quarter of 2015, generating more than a quarter of the country’s total energy output throughout the period.
Figures released by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on Thursday showed generation stood at just under 20TWh in the three months ended 30 June – an increase of 51% on the corresponding period in 2014 – as solar PV generation more than doubled from 1.5TWh to 3.2TWh.
DECC also noted that renewables had benefitted from “more favourable weather conditions” throughout the period, recording higher wind speeds, rainfall and sun hours. PV in particular benefitted from higher than average irradiation in the UK as average sun hours were higher than the ten-year average.
The department also released its most up-to-date figures on solar deployment today, claiming that the UK breached the 8GW barrier last month.
DECC states solar PV capacity to have stood at 8,007MW at the end of August, spread across more than 750,000 installations throughout the country. Renewables Obligation-accredited capacity represented 46% of total capacity while capacity installed under the feed-in tariff stood at 41% having added around 40MW last month alone.
However with DECC’s figures notoriously behind-the-curve, deployment could yet be scaled upwards when the department next revises its monthly figures on 29 October or its quarterly statistics in late November.