Nearly half of Wales’ electricity consumption last year came from renewable sources, according to a new report.
Published today (20 November), the Energy Generation in Wales 2017 report shows the equivalent of 48 per cent of the country’s electricity in 2017 came from renewable sources, compared to 43 per cent in 2016.
The report also reveals 22 per cent of all the electricity generated last year was from renewable sources, up from 18 per cent in 2016.
According to the research, there are more than 67,000 renewable energy projects in Wales with a combined capacity of almost 3,700 MW – 84 per cent of this capacity is renewable electricity, while 16 per cent is renewable heat capacity.
In addition, Wales produces approximately 2.1 TWh of useable renewable heat, equivalent to 10.5 per cent of Welsh domestic heat demand. And there are over 63,000 locally owned renewable energy projects, with a total capacity of 750 MW.
In September last year, the Welsh energy cabinet secretary, Lesley Griffiths announced she wanted Wales to generate 70 per cent of its electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2030.
The Cabinet Secretary also set an ambitious target for 1GW of locally owned renewable electricity, and an expectation that all new renewable energy projects should have at least an element of local ownership by 2020.
“I am delighted that Wales is continuing to towards our ambitious renewable energy targets and this report shows the impressive progress over the last year,” said Griffiths.
“With nearly half of our electricity consumption coming from renewable sources, as well as us being over half of the way to meeting our target for renewable electricity capacity in local ownership, we are seeing the huge steps made by the sector.
“As a government we are committed to accelerating the transition of our energy system in Wales, particularly through the increased use of renewable energy. Our priorities are to increase energy efficiency, reduce our reliance on energy generated from fossil fuels and to actively manage the transition to a low carbon economy to benefit Wales,” she added.