A jump in wind power led to turbines producing enough electricity to meet the needs of more than three-quarters of Scottish households in April, new figures reveal. Wind farms provided 699,684MWh (megawatt-hours) of electricity to the National Grid last month, enough to power 79% of average Scottish households, equivalent to 1.9 million homes. The energy output has increased by 15% compared with the same time last year when wind energy provided 608,601MWh of electricity to the grid. Figures released by WeatherEnergy show that high winds meant on eight days in April wind turbines generated enough electricity to supply 100% or more of Scottish homes. Despite the recent wintry weather the data shows that in homes fitted with solar panels, there was enough sunshine to generate an estimated 95% of the electricity needs of an aver age household in Dundee, 87% in Edinburgh, 86% in Aberdeen, 84% in Glasgow, and 83% in Inverness. For those homes fitted with solar hot water panels, there was enough sunshine to generate 82% of an average household’s hot water needs in Inverness, 80% in Dundee, 78% in Aberdeen, 76% in Glasgow, and 74% in Edinburgh.
Energy Voice 3rd May 2016 read more »
Scotland’s wind power sky rocketed last month. The output jumped up by 15 per cent compared with last year’s figures, and upwards of 70 per cent electricity or hot water was provided by the sun through solar panels. Environmentalists are now calling for the next Scottish government to bring forward a new energy strategy that takes Scotland to the “next level” in its use of renewables. The call by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Scotland came as the group published analysis of wind and solar data provided by WeatherEnergy. They found that for the month of April wind turbines in Scotland provided enough electricity for 1.9 million Scottish homes. This represents an increase of 15% compared to that of April 2015. Karen Robinson of WeatherEnergy said: “After a relatively slow start to the year, Scotland’s wind power output is back on the up thanks to s ome powerful winds during the month.
Blue and Green Tomorrow 3rd May 2016 read more »