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Renewable Energy
The following provides information and analysis on the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources and is dis-aggregated from the UK level to local authority level, supplied by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
It includes information on capacity, generation and number of operational sites in County Durham.
Key Points:
- In 2024 it was estimated that over 94,109 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity was generated from renewable energy sources in England, up from 82,790 gigawatt hours (MWh) in 2021,
- In County Durham 529,300 MWh of electricity was generated from renewable sources in 2024, up from 431,100 MWh in 2021,
- The number of on-shore wind turbines in County Durham is low at 96 (2024), however, they produced 57.5% of the renewable electricity in 2024 in the county. This was equivalent to 304,200 MWh,
- Plant biomass is the second-largest contributor to renewable electricity production in the county providing 19.5% of the total electricity generated in 2024 from renewable sources (103,000 MWh),
- Photovoltaics are the most common form of renewable energy site in County Durham with over 14,000 sites and in 2024. They had a capacity of 78.4 megawatts (MW) and in 2024 generated an estimated 59,000 MWh of electricity – 11.1% of the total.
Definition: A MW is equal to 1,000 kilowatts (kW). A megawatt-hour (MWh) is a unit of measure of electric energy. A MWh is 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). An MWh is the amount of electricity generated by a one megawatt (MW) electric generator operating or producing electricity for one hour. A gigawatt (GW) is a unit of power that equals one billion watts (or 1,000 megawatts).
Further information on this topic can be found on the GOV.UK website and the interactive charts below give access to the time series data for County Durham.