30 September 2011: DECC have just released their annual regional breakdown of renewable electricity statistics, providing further detail to the renewable CHP chapter of DECC’s annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics, published in July of this year. (Note – this only refers to ‘renewable electricity’ and not ‘renewable energy’ which would include the contribution of renewables to heating and transport fuels also – the UK’s 2020 target is in relation to renewable energy).
The statistics for London indicate:
- 10 sites in London are indicated under the ‘wind and wave’ category to a total of 3.7 MWe. Virtually all of this capacity must be wind, and the vast proportion of it attributable to a single scheme – the Ford Dagenham wind turbine project.
- 6 schemes are classed under ‘other biomass’ a total of 110.6 MWe (note – these statistics only refer to ‘renewable electricity’ and not ‘renewable energy’, hence it does not include biomass heat-only schemes in London or elsewhere). The majority of this capacity must be from biogas to electricity schemes at Thames Water sewage waste water treatment plants, and also a Thames Water ‘sludge powered’ generator, and a number of landfill gas schemes.
- And then there are 1,044 solar PV schemes operating in London – to a total of 2.8MWe generation capacity (on PV installations in London see here for further detail).
- London has the lowest total overall renewable electricity output of all regions at 385GWh – exactly the same amount generated as in 2009 (see DECC Energy Trends September 2010 for details)
- The Mayor will shortly be issuing a detailed study on the potential for decentrailsed energy in London, including the use of renewable energy resources.