5 January 2015

RenewableUK is highlighting new official statistics from National Grid which show that record amounts of clean electricity were generated by wind power in 2014.

Wind generated enough electricity to supply the needs of more than 6.7 million UK households last year; a 15% increase on the amount generated in 2013 (up from 24.5 terawatt hours to 28.1TWh in 2014) - just over 25% of all UK homes all year round. 

Wind farms feeding into the grid, as well as smaller sites connected to local networks, provided 9.3% of Britain's total electricity supply in 2014, up from 7.8% in 2013.

Other records were broken in December, with a new monthly high of 14% of all electricity generated by wind, beating the previous record of 13% set in December 2013, as well as a new quarterly record of 12% of electricity from wind in the last 3 months of 2014, breaking the previous record of 11% set in Q1 of 2014.  

RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Maf Smith said: “It’s great to start 2015 with some good news about the massive quantities of clean electricity we’re now generating from wind, with new records being set month after month, quarter after quarter, and year on year, as we increase our capacity to harness one of Britain’s best natural resources.

“We’re now into a General Election year so we know that the political temperature is set to carry on rising over the next few months. The cost of energy has become an important political issue, so now would be a good time for voters, prospective parliamentary candidates and MPs to take account of the fact that onshore wind is the cheapest form of renewable energy we have at our fingertips. So if we’re serious about cutting bills, and securing an indigenous supply of clean power, all parties need to support it in the months ahead”.   

For further information, please contact:

·              Robert Norris, Head of Communications, 020 7901 3013 or 07969 229913, Robert.Norris@RenewableUK.com

Notes:

1. National Grid figures supplied to RenewableUK by independent data analysts EnAppSys, including embedded capacity (turbines feeding into local networks): www.enappsys.com

2014 generation total by wind: 28.1TWh, compared to 24.5TWh in 2013. 28.14TWh powers the equivalent of 6,712,786 homes using the average annual domestic consumption figure of 4.192MWh in DECC’s latest update: www.gov.uk/government/collections/digest-of-uk-energy-statistics-dukes.

Total number of UK households: 26.4 million - Office for National statistics latest census:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/population-estimates-by-five-year-age-bands--and-household-estimates--for-local-authorities-in-the-united-kingdom/stb-population-and-household-estimates-for-the-united-kingdom-march-2011.html