- Renewable energy produced 43% of all U.K.’s energy needs in 2020.
- Wind was the largest contributor, generating 75.5TWh.
- Solar generation increased by 4.6% compared to 2019.
Fossil fuels contributed only 37.7 per cent of the UK’s energy in 2020, a record low. On the other hand, renewable energy production reached record-high levels according to data released in the s Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) for 2020 published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Renewable sources contributed 43 per cent of the countries energy; a 6 percentage points increase from 2019. Renewable energy generation was dominated by wind sources which produced 24.1 per cent (75.5TWh). While increases in capacity over the year were modest, favourable weather and wind conditions boosted generation by 18 per cent compared to 2019.
Solar energy contributed 28 per cent of the U.K.’s total renewable energy generation. Solar generation increased by 4.6 per cent from 2019 due to better weather. However, according to BEIS, The U.K. added only 238MW of solar PV in 2020. Biogas was the only renewable energy source that saw a fall in generation as the government attributed the decline to the falling extraction rates at landfill gas sites.