Nearly three-quarters (73%) of the renewable energy (excluding non-biodegradable wastes) produced in 2008 was transformed into electricity.  This is a decrease from 79% in 2007 and 83% in 2006, because the use of biofuels for transport has grown at a faster rate than the use of renewables for electricity generation.  While biomass appears to dominate the picture when fuel inputs are being measured, hydro electricity and wind power together provide a larger contribution when the output of electricity is being measured.  This is because on an energy supplied basis the inputs are deemed to be equal to the electricity produced for hydro, wind, wave and solar. However for landfill gas, sewage sludge, municipal solid waste and other renewables a substantial proportion of the energy content of the input is lost in the process of conversion to electricity as the Energy Flow Chart illustrates.

Total electricity generation from renewables in 2008 amounted to 21,597 GWh, an increase of 1,952 GWh (+10%) on 2007.  The main contributors to this substantial increase were 1,301 GWh from onshore wind (+29%), 523 GWh (+67%) from offshore wind, 159 GWh from plant biomass (+39%), 80 GWh (+2%) from landfill gas, 69 GWh from sewage sludge digestion (+14%), 48 GWh (+4%) from municipal solid waste combustion, and 46 GWh from large scale hydro (+1%).  However there was a 343 GWh decrease in co-firing of biomass with fossil fuels (-18%). 

As a result, all renewable sources provided 5.5% of the electricity generated in the United Kingdom in 2008, 0.43 perce6ntage points higher than in 2007. This chart shows the growth in the proportion of electricity produced from renewable sources. It includes the progress towards the renewables targets set under the RO and RD.

Electricity generated in the UK from renewable sources eligible under the RO in 2008 was 11% greater than in 2007.  This compares with growth of 6 per cent and 14% in both 2007 and 2006 respectively.  RO eligible generation has tripled since its introduction in 2002. This compares with an all-renewable electricity generation figure that has nearly doubled over the same period, from a higher starting level.

There was a 1,102 MWe increase (+19%) in the installed generating capacity of renewable sources in 2008, mainly as a result of a 737 MWe increase (+35%) in onshore wind capacity and a 192 MWe increase (+49%) in offshore wind capacity.  There was also a 98 MWe increase (+7%) in the capacity using large scale hydro, and a 49 MWe increase (+15%) in capacity fuelled by waste combustion.

Around 13½% of renewable sources were used for heat generation in 2008.  Renewables used to generate heat declined to a low point in 2001 but since picked up to be less than 3% lower in 2008 than the level 10 years earlier.  The decline was mainly due to tighter emissions controls discouraging on-site burning of biomass, especially wood waste by industry. Domestic use of wood accounts for 45 per cent of all renewables used for heat.  Plant biomass overtook the industrial use of wood and wood waste in 2008 to become, at 16%, the second largest component.  In addition, the use of active solar heating has more than doubled in the last five years.

Around 320 million litres of biodiesel were produced in the UK in 2008, around two-thirds the amount produced in 2007 (485 million litres) but higher than in 2006.  Biodiesel consumption figures can be obtained from figures published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) derived from road fuel taxation statistics.  The HMRC figures show that 886 million litres of biodiesel were consumed in 2008, up from 347 million litres in 2007, 169 million litres in 2006 and 33 million litres in 2005.  Around 572 million litres of biodiesel were imported in 2007.  The total annual capacity for biodiesel production in the UK was estimated to reach 540 million litres per year in 2010 if all the planned plant become operational and the existing plant operate at full capacity.  This production level would be equivalent to around 2.2 per cent of the UK’s diesel consumption in 2008.  This reduced capacity, compared to that reported as planned in last year’s Digest, is due to adverse market conditions, in particular the uncertainty surrounding the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation and possible sustainability requirements, with a number of significant producers going out of business in 2008 and other plant operating at reduced output. Plans for additional capacity have largely been cancelled or postponed, so that the best estimate of capacity in 2010 is probably the current capacity of about 540 million litres per year.

HMRC data show that 206 million litres of bioethanol was consumed in the UK in 2008;  this continues a trend of increasing bioethanol use that started with 85 million litres in 2005.  Only one UK plant was in production in 2008, and so the majority of the bioethanol was imported.  If all planned plants became operational on current planned timescales, their combined capacity would be around 505 million litres by 2011, equivalent to 2.2% of the UK’s petrol consumption in 2008, rising to a possible 1,660 million litres after 2012.  Some of the capacity reported as planned in last year’s Digest will not now go ahead, reportedly due to the uncertain future market. 

In 2008, 14% of the renewable sources used in the UK in primary input terms were liquid biofuels for transport, up from 7% in 2007, 4% in 2006 and less than 0.5% in 2003.

Further information is available on:

Energy Flow Chart
Electricity
- growth
- capacity
Renewables Obligations
- since 1990
Utilisation
Heat & Electricity Generation