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Renewables Grew in 2017

Pressure relief valve users and other producers of renewable energy should be proud of the rate at which renewable energy production grew in 2017.

The latest figures from 2017 show that enough renewable energy was created in 2017 to have powered the whole of the UK in 1958.

Obviously, our energy demands have grown since then, but the fact that this amount of energy was created from renewable resources last year really is something to celebrate.

In fact, the latest Electric Insights report from researchers at Imperial College London in collaboration with Drax shows that energy generated from wind, biomass, solar and hydro energy combined, grew by more than a quarter in 2017. The total generated was 96 terawatt hours of power, which is four more than were used in the UK in the whole of 1958.

Andy Koss, Drax Power chief executive told ITV: "This report shows the great progress we have made in terms of decarbonising the energy sector."

There were a number of firsts for renewable energy in the UK last year, such as renewable energy outstripping non-renewable energy generation on some days of the year.

Over 50 per cent of our energy generation came from low carbon technologies, including nuclear, and over 25 per cent came from renewables, the report showed.

Wind produced 15 per cent of the UK’s overall energy needs in 2017, up from 10 per cent in 2016, while coal-generated power made up just 7 per cent, representing a fall from the previous year.