Feature

Investment in Scottish renewables sector doubles


David Hopwood

According to the UK's DECC, investment doubled to reach £1.54bn in 2012 as a result of an additional 1GW (gigawatt) of new projects, bringing Scotland’s total installed capacity to 5.8GW. Investment in 2011 was £757m.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change figures (see below) also showed record amounts of renewable electricity was generated in 2012, up almost seven per cent from 2011, to more than 14,600 Gigawatt hours – enough to power the equivalent of all the homes in Scotland - according to the Scottish Government.

Mr Joss Blamire, Senior Policy Manager of Scottish Renewables, said:

“It’s been another record breaking year for the renewable energy industry in Scotland with more of our electricity being produced by renewable energy sources than ever before, and we’ve doubled the investment being driven into the Scottish economy in just one year.

“We are on track to be Scotland’s main source of electricity by the end of this year.

He continued: “Renewables is now a major part of our energy mix and is a significant part of our economy.”

Investment table - 2012

Annual investment in renewables in Scotland - 2012.
  MWs end of year 2011 MWs end September 2012 MWs additional capacitu £m/MW Total Investment £m
Onshore wind 2,837 3,808  971 1.4 1359.4
Offshore wind 190 190  0 3.1 0
Wave and tidal 2 4  2 3.6 7.2
Solar PV 60 108  48 2.6 124.8
Hydro 1,489 1,500  11 2.3 25.3
Landfill gas 113 113 0 1 0
Sewage sludge digestion
8
8
 0 2.6 0
Municipal solid waste 11 18  7 3.1 21.7
Animal biomass (non-AD) 13 13 0 3.1 0
Anaerobic digestion 6 7 1 5.1 5.1
Plant biomass 113 115 2 2.2 4.4

TOTAL INVESTMENT - 1,547.9
 

Share this article

More services

 

This article is featured in:
Policy, investment and markets