October was an unusual month in Scotland. Thanks to its turbines and exceptional climatic conditions, the winds were so strong, that they were able to supply its entire households for more than a month.
The Independent reported that the turbines generated at least 792,717 MWh of electricity to the country’s national grid. That’s even a quarter more over the same month last year. This was enough to feed 87 percent of the two million homes in Scotland.
On August 7, 2016, wind turbines had already generated more electricity throughout Scotland in a single day with the production of more than 57 percent of the country’s electrical requirements exceeding even 100 percent in 24 hours.
However, the figures show that the total energy consumption last month was 2,080,065 MWh. This means that wind energy produced only 38 percent of Scotland’s energy needs.
Even if the figures are against wind power, this gives rays of hope that this country of the United Kingdom can truly be independent of fossil fuels in a few years. If other countries focus more on solar energy and biomass use, it seems that wind energy remains the Scottish force. Already by 2015, wind production had reached a record level of 14, 136 GWh and was almost 7 times the wind level in 2006. Its other European counterparts are also relying on renewable energies, which mean that they are in favour of the total independence of fossil fuels.
Bold initiatives and strong leadership have played a key role in Scotland’s success in renewable energy
The director of the Scottish World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Lang Banks, welcomed Scotland’s ability to drastically reduce its carbon emissions from renewable energy; an inspiration for others, he said.
However, current policies will not be sufficient to meet Scotland’s future climate goals. Bold initiatives and strong leadership have played a key role in Scotland’s success in renewable energy. The Scottish government must rely on this principle by setting a new energy target for 2030 in order to extend the same vision of a low carbon transition to all parts of the energy sector.
