Scotland has set a goal of meeting half its electricity demand from renewable sources by 2015, after reaching 35 percent last year, according to Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister.

The target is an interim step in Scotland's effort to get all of its power from clean sources by 2020, after beating its 2011 goal of 31 percent, according to data from the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Setting the mid-stage target will help provide energy security, environmental sustainability and employment opportunities, Salmond said today in an e-mailed statement.

“ Scotland's renewable energy production offsets our carbon emissions by 15 percent -- the equivalent of taking around 3.5 million cars off the roads,” Salmond said. “In total, 11,000 people are now employed in the renewable-energy sector.”

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Scotland has as much as a quarter of Europe's tidal and offshore wind resources and about 10 percent of its wave power potential, according to the Scottish government. Offshore wind may support as many as 28,000 direct jobs by 2020, Salmond said.

Bloomberg