Renewable energy increase
23 December 2009
Commenting on the news of a continuing increase in the amount of renewable electricty being generated in Scotland
WWF Scotland's Lang Banks said:
"Scotland is clearly showing the way when it comes to renewable energy. 2009 has been another good year for renewable energy with Whitelees, Europe’s largest onshore windfarm, officially switched on and the pioneering Orkney-based Oyster wave energy generator connected to the National Grid. With almost six Gigawatts of renewables capacity installed, consented or under construction, Scotland is on course to smash its interim target of meeting 31 per cent of electricity demand from renewables by 2011.
"Green energy has a critical role to play in helping us achieve the 42 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases set out in the world-leading Scottish Climate Change Act. On and offshore wind, wave, tidal, hydro, biomass and solar are all going to be important in Scotland's future mix of clean, green energy. Our own analysis has found that Scotland could meet all its electricity needs by 2030 without the requirement for either nuclear or fossil fuel powered installations."
Earlier this year, WWF along with a number of other NGO’s released The Power of Scotland Renewed report, based on research by independent energy analysts Garrad Hassan. It shows that there is enormous potential to increase generation of electricity from renewable sources during the next two decades, so much so that by 2030 renewable energy can meet between 60 per cent and 143 per cent of Scotland’s projected annual electricity demand.
