This is a jump of 5.8% compared with the same period in 2012, when the figure stood at 9.7%.

 

Renewable electricity generation was 12.8 TWh in 2013’s second quarter, an increase of 56 per cent on the 8.2 TWh in 2012 Q2, and slightly lower than the peak quarterly generation of the first quarter of 2013 (12.9 TWh).

 

Bioenergy showed a 58 per cent increase in generation in 2013’s second quarter, from 3.3 TWh in the same period in 2012 to a record 5.2 TWh. Liquid biofuels consumption rose by 7.1 per cent, from 368 million litres to 394 million litres but was 13 per cent less than the record 454 million litres in the fourth quarter of 2011. In 2013 second quarter, liquid biofuels represented 3.4 per cent of petrol and diesel consumed in road transport.

Renewable electricity capacity was 19.5 GW, a 38 per cent increase (5.3 GW) on a year earlier, and 8.2 per cent (1.5 GW) increase on the previous quarter.

 

Generation from onshore wind was up 70% on the same time last year, while offshore wind showed an increase of 51%, due to increased capacity onshore and offshore, as well as high wind speeds, according to DECC. Nearly half of the total generation from renewables came from wind (48%).

 

“This confirms what we have been seeing for some time, which is renewables steadily becoming more important in meeting our electricity needs, and wind being responsible for the lion’s share of the progress,” said Maf Smith, deputy chief executive of RenewableUK. “That this period coincided with one of the coldest Springs on record means that wind was providing this power at a crucial time.