Renewable energy accounted for 90% of all the electricity used in Scotland last year, according to newly released figures.
The Scottish Government said more electricity was generated from renewable sources in 2019 than ever before – 30.5 terrawatt hours (TWh) up from 26.5 TWh in 2018.
With one year until a target of 100% of gross electricity consumption from renewables, 2019 estimates found 90% came from renewable sources compared to 76.2% in 2018.
The amount of renewable energy produced is equivalent to the electricity needed to power all Scottish homes for more than three years, or the energy used to charge 6.7 billion phones for a year.
The majority of Scotland’s renewable electricity generation
continues to be converted from wind on land (22.4 TWh), despite offshore wind increasing production from 1.3 TWh to 3.3 TWh in the last year, attributed in part to the Beatrice wind farm off the Caithness coast becoming fully operational in May.
continues to be converted from wind on land (22.4 TWh), despite offshore wind increasing production from 1.3 TWh to 3.3 TWh in the last year, attributed in part to the Beatrice wind farm off the Caithness coast becoming fully operational in May.
Renewable energy projects – predominantly offshore wind farms in the
Moray Firth – are being planned or are under construction, the Scottish Government said, with an estimated additional capacity of 13 GWh.
Moray Firth – are being planned or are under construction, the Scottish Government said, with an estimated additional capacity of 13 GWh.
Gina Hanrahan from WWF Scotland said: “It’s great to see more and more of Scotland’s electricity demand being met from clean, cheap renewables.
“Whether we meet the 100% target this year or very soon, increased renewable electricity capacity is the most fundamental building block of a zero-carbon society.
“That’s why it’s great to see onshore wind projects able to compete once again in the electricity market.”
Cara Dalziel, policy officer at Scottish Renewables, said a 100% target in Scotland was “still within reach”, but added that “policy uncertainty in recent years has meant our industry has not been able to deploy as much renewable electricity generation capacity as predicted”.
She said: “The growth of offshore wind has happened more slowly in Scotland than in the rest of the UK and onshore wind, which makes up the majority of our green power generation capacity, was locked out of the energy market by the UK Government for four years, meaning very few new projects were built.”
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