Statistics released by the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change show that coal accounted for 39% of the country's total generation in 2012, while gas was responsible for 29%. Nuclear power provided 19%, the same percentage as the year before. Renewables accounted for just over 11%, according to the government's annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics.
Comparing the energy mix with 2011, there was a notable shift from gas to coal generation in 2012. The share due to gas burn fell by 12 percentage points, with coal's increasing by nine. Coal accounted for 30% of electricity generation in 2011, with gas at 41%.
Electricity generated from renewables increased by almost a fifth, from 9.4% in 2011 to 11.3%, thanks largely to offshore wind. Onshore wind generation increased by 27% in 2012, offshore wind generation by 46% and solar PV by 71% (due to high uptake of feed in tariffs), according to DECC. Offshore wind achieved a load factor of 33.7% in 2012 (greater than the gas load factor of 30.4%).
DECC reported an increase in overall primary energy consumption of 2.1% in 2012, largely owing to the colder weather. But it said that on a temperature adjusted basis consumption was down 0.6%, continuing the downward trend of the last seven years.
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