According to new figures from Weather Energy, Scottish wind farms generated a record-breaking amount of electricity in the first six months of 2019.
Over the period, Scottish wind turbines generated 9,831,320 megawatt hours, which is enough power for 4.47 million homes. Not only was this enough to power every home in Scotland—it could also power almost as many homes again in the North of England as well.
Robin Parker, the climate and energy policy manager at WWF Scotland called the figures “amazing” and highlighted the gathering pace of the wind energy revolution in Scotland. He also said:
“Up and down the country, we are all benefiting from cleaner energy and so is the climate. These figures show harnessing Scotland’s plentiful onshore wind potential can provide clean, green electricity for millions of homes across not only Scotland, but England as well.”
The figures show the step toward the Scottish government’s aim of producing half the country’s electricity by 2030, as well as its goal of largely decarbonizing its energy system by 2050.
In addition to advances in technology and lubrication, such as Mobilith SHC 220, Scotland has favourable conditions for wind power, especially on the west and northern coasts, where average capacity factors of 31% or more are not unusual, compared with the EU average of 25%. The Burradale windfarm outside Lerwick in the Shetland Islands has even achieved an average capacity of 52% since it came online in 2000. The nation has an estimated 11.5 GW of onshore wind power potential.
