Wind Power = 124% of Scotland’s Home Electricity Needs January–June 2017

July 24th, 2017 by Joshua S Hill

Record wind energy generation in Scotland in June helped boost the figures for the first half of the year, resulting in wind generating enough electricity to supply the electrical needs of 124% of Scottish households between January and June.

New figures published this week by WWF Scotland based on data provided by WeatherEnergy found that the month of June saw wind turbines generate around 1,039,001 MWh (megawatt-hours) of electricity for the National Grid, the distribution network company that runs the UK electricity grid. This amounted to, on average, enough electricity to provide for the electricity needs of 118% of Scottish households, or nearly 3 million homes. Further, wind energy generated enough electricity to supply more than all of Scotland’s national demand for 6 days out of the month of June.

The strong wind energy in June helped boost the numbers for the first half of 2017 overall, helping to push total electricity generated from wind from January to June up to 6,634,585 MWh delivered to the National Grid. That’s enough electricity for 124% of all Scottish households, and an increase of 24% compared to the previous record-breaking six-month period, back in 2015. In terms of Scotland’s entire electricity demand, wind energy accounted for 57%.

“The first six months of 2017 have certainly been incredible for renewables, with wind turbines alone helping to ensure millions of tonnes of climate-damaging carbon emissions were avoided,” said Dr Sam Gardner, WWF Scotland’s acting director. “Scotland is continuing to break records on renewable electricity, attracting investment, creating jobs and tackling climate change. If we want to reap the same rewards in the transport and heating sectors we need the Scottish Government to put in place strong policies on energy efficiency and transport in the forthcoming Climate Change Bill.

“That’s why we’re calling on people to act for our future and tell the First Minister they want a strong climate bill that will deliver a fairer and healthier low carbon Scotland.”

Scotland is often in the news for its renewable energy developments and performance, none more often than its wind energy records. Just this year alone we’ve covered two big records. In March, WWF Scotland and WeatherEnergy published data showing that Scotland’s wind turbines generated 1,331,420 MWh in February, enough to power the equivalent of 3.9 million homes, or 162% of Scottish households. This was the result of a 43% increase compared to February of 2016. A month later, Scotland wind energy provided 1,240,095 MWh of electricity to the National Grid, the electrical needs of 136% of Scottish households, and a stunning 81% increase over the same month a year ago, a new record for the month of March.

“It’s great to see this data confirm that Scotland is knocking it out of the park on wind power with total output for June in particular up on the same period compared to the past two years,” added Karen Robinson of WeatherEnergy. “There’s no doubt renewables are helping households increasingly avoid fossil fuels for their electricity needs.”

Images by W. L. Tarbert and Bjmullan (some rights reserved)











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