(Bloomberg) — U.K. electricity from low-carbon sources
accounted for almost a quarter of the country’s generation in
the fourth quarter as Drax Group Plc converted a second coal-power plant to burn wood.
Renewable electricity output climbed to a record 22 percent
in the period from 17.9 percent a year earlier, the Department
of Energy and Climate Change said Thursday in a report. That
reflects an increase of as much as 51 percent in bio-energy
production after Drax completed its plant conversion.
Utility Drax, the owner of Britain’s largest coal-fired
power station, is overhauling units at the site in northern
England to burn wood pellets and thus reduce its requirement for
carbon-emission permits. The U.K. government intends to get at
least 30 percent of power from clean sources by the end of the
decade, up from 15 percent in 2013.
Drax brought its second converted generator fully online in
the fourth quarter and expects to switch a third this year and
next. It’s also considering transforming a fourth at the six-unit complex.
Over the full year, clean electricity rose by a fifth,
taking it to more than 38 percent of the U.K. total, according
to the report. Bio-energy expanded by 24 percent and wind power
by 11 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Amanda Jordan, Tony Barrett