It may be gloomy, windy and rainy, but the Scottish weather may have its upsides too. in October, Scotland generated enough power from wind to power up every single home in Scotland and a bit more.
Scotland aims to get 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. Wind energy will play a key role in this. Image credits: Ocean/Corbis.
“Wind turbines alone generated an estimated 982,842MWh of electricity, enough to power 3,045,000 homes in the UK – equivalent to 126% of the electricity needs of every home in Scotland”, writes a new report published by WWF.
It’s important to note that Scotland is one of the most windiest countries in the world – but that doesn’t take anything away from them; the fact that they are willing and able to utilize their natural resources with such efficiency is remarkable. Referring to it as a “bumper month” for renewable energy, WWF Scotland’s director Lang Banks said in a statement:
“While nuclear power plants were being forced to shut because of cracks, Scotland’s wind and sunshine were quietly and cleanly helping to keep the lights on in homes across the country. With wind power generating enough electricity to power 126% of the needs of every home in Scotland, it really was a bumper month for renewables in Scotland.
Summer may be a distant memory, but for the tens of thousands of Scottish households that have installed solar panels to generate electricity or heat water, a third or more of their needs were met from the sun this October, helping reduce their reliance on coal, gas, or even oil.”
Indeed, renewable energy in Scotland has been at the core of political and economical discussions, unlike most developed countries. Renewable electricity generation in Scotland was 16,974 GWh in 2013, up 16.4% on 2012. In fact, Scotland produces so much renewable energy that it sends some of it to the rest of Great Britain. In March this year, The Guardian published an article which claimed that England’s lights ‘would go out without Scotland’s renewable energy’. Wind energy especially is a contributing factor..
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Wind energy has been thriving in the UK and especially in Scotland. In August the U.K set a new record for wind power generation, with wind accounting for seventeen percent of national demand. But Scotland went even beyond that, getting almost 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources, 34 percent from nuclear, and just 34 percent from fossil fuels. Scotland hopes to generate the equivalent of 100 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2020 and then to send all its fossil fuels to the exports – mostly to England.
Scotland seems committed to sustainable energy and determined to play its role in the fight against global warming. Banks concludes:
“The science is clear, if we are to prevent the worst impacts of global climate change, then the world needs to move away from fossil fuels. The good news is that here in Scotland we’re making good use of wind power to create clean electricity. However, if Scotland is going to meet its future climate change targets, then we need to see greater support for energy efficiency and renewable heat, as well as action to curb emissions from transport.”
Source: WWF Report.
