Two days’ wind power in one day
● Turbines provide enough electricity to power Scotland twice over in one day
Wind power generated more than double the electricity needed to power Scotland on Monday, according to environmental groups.
WWF Scotland analysed wind power data provided by Weather-energy and found wind turbines in Scotland provided 86,467MWH of electricity to the National Grid.
Wind turbines generated enough green energy to power the whole of Scotland twice over on a single day this week, according to the latest data.
Breezy conditions on Monday saw turbines supplying 86,467 megawatt hours of power to the grid, setting a new record for wind energy generation.
The energy produced was equivalent to 206 per cent of the entire electricity requirement of all Scottish homes, businesses and industry for the day.
This is enough to power more than seven million households, which is near- ly three times the number of homes north of the Border.
The latest figures come from green power website Weatherenergy, which matches climate conditions with installed renewable energy capacity to produce nationwide output statistics.
Environmentalists have welcomed the latest record, which comes shortly after National Grid figures showed this summer was the “greenest ever” with more than half of UK electricity generation coming from low-carbon sources.
“Monday proved to be a great day for renewable electricity output, with wind turbines alone providing enough to power seven million homes and way more than Scotland’s total electricity needs,” said Sam Gardner, director of WWF Scotland.
“We’re blown away by these figures but they are part of a pattern of increasingly green power production, made possible thanks to many years of political support in Scotland.
“Across the year, renewables now contribute over half of our electricity needs.”
Last month was also good for wind power. Turbines in Scotland provided 1,108,862 megawatt hours of electricity to the grid – enough to supply three million households or around two-thirds of total Scottish demand.
The equivalent of 54 per cent of Scotland’s electricity consumption came from renewable sources in 2016.
“Monday really was extraordinary, with wind power able to generate the equivalent of two times all Scotland’s electricity needs,” said Karen Robinson of Weatherenergy.
“This shows just how far renewables have come.”