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On September 26th, the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy released energy statistics for the second quarter of 2019.
In the second quarter, total energy production in the UK fell by 1.9% compared to the same period last year. The total primary energy consumption fell by 1%. Compared with the second quarter of 2018, the final energy consumption increased by 1.2%.
In the second quarter, coal power generation accounted for only 0.6% of total power generation, a record low. The share of renewable energy in electricity rose from 32% in the second quarter of 2018 to 35.5%.
Renewable energy generation reached 27.1 TWh, a year-on-year increase of 9.9%. The proportion of low-carbon electricity to power generation fell to 52.6% from 53.6% in the second quarter of 2018. As of the end of the second quarter, the total renewable power capacity was 45.9 GW, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%.
Bioenergy generation reached 9.2 TWh, an increase of 7.2% from the second quarter of 2018. The UK government attributed this growth to a significant increase in the generation of plant biomass based on wood pellets as new power generation capacity was put into use. The increase in plant biomass power generation is offset by a reduction in landfill gas and anaerobic digestion power generation.
This quarter, bioenergy accounted for the largest share of renewable energy generation in the UK, at 34%; followed by onshore wind energy, accounting for 22%; offshore wind power generation, 22%; solar photovoltaics, 18%; hydropower Accounted for 3.5%.
As of the end of the second quarter, bioenergy accounted for 16% of UK renewable energy capacity. Plant biomass increased by 8.5% to 6 GW, mainly due to biomass conversion at the Lynemouth Power Station. The use of biomass in another unit of the Drax power station also helped to increase.
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