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Half of Scotland's Energy Consumption Came From Renewables Last Year (heraldscotland.com)

Posted by msmash on from the paving-way-for-a-brighter-future dept.

An anonymous reader quotes an article on Herald Scotland: Scotland has met a key target for renewable energy consumption, according to official figures. Statistics published by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change show 57.7% of Scottish electricity consumption came from renewables in 2015 -- 7.7% ahead of the 50% target. The SNP welcomed the figures and pledged to bring forward plans to go further if re-elected in May. Deputy First Minister and SNP campaign director John Swinney said: "The SNP have long championed green energy and these new figures show the huge progress we have made - but we are determined to go even further.

5 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong title by MarcDuflot · · Score: 5, Informative

    Half of Scotland's ELECTRICITY Consumption Came From Renewables Last Year

    1. Re:Wrong title by beelsebob · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not true - hydro is only really used as giant batteries for sudden ramp up and ramp down of electricity demand. Most of it is wind. Wave and tidal power play a fair role too though.

  2. Another link by tomhath · · Score: 3, Informative

    As already pointed out, the 57% number is electricity, not energy. I suspect they burn a lot of natural gas for heat since they have the North Sea fields. Graphs here indicate that about 3/4 comes from wind, about 1/4 from hydro. Other sources are negligible (obviously Scotland is too far north and too cloudy for PV).

  3. Re:All Energy Is Renewable by Vihai · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, thermodynamics tells that ALL the energy is not renewable... entropy and stuff...

  4. Mostly wind by XXongo · · Score: 4, Informative

    And most of those renewables is hydro....

    No, as it turns out, most of those renewables are wind.

    Here are some earlier articles that give a bit more information:
    http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/wind-power-providing-almost-half-of-scotland-s-energy-supply-1-4023886
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-35160271
    http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c4ef7ed8-a8c8-11e5-843e-626928909745.html