Wind powered 95% of Scottish homes in May

Scotland has celebrated yet “another extraordinary month" for renewables, with wind and solar powering almost every household across the country in May, according to WWF Scotland. 

Dr Sam Gardner, Acting Director of WWF Scotland, said: "May proved to be another great month for renewables with the wind sector meeting 95 per cent of the electricity needs of Scotland's households.”

Wind power provided 863,495 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable electricity to the National Grid in May, up from 692,896 MWh in May 2016, an increase of almost 20 per cent.

Furthermore, on 11 of the 31 days in May, wind generated enough power to supply 100 per cent or more of homes in Scotland.

Dr Gardener said: "On one day in particular, 15 May, output from turbines generated enough electricity to power 190 per cent of homes or 99 per cent of Scotland's total electricity demand. Month after month, renewables play a vital role in cutting carbon emissions and powering the Scottish economy."

Scotland's total electricity consumption – including homes, business and industry – in May was 1,857,566 MWh.

Wind power generated the equivalent of 46 per cent of Scotland's total electricity needs last month.

Solar energy also reported a strong month for renewable energy generation.

WWF Scotland – which analysed data provided by WeatherEnergy – found that in several parts of Scotland, homes fitted with solar photovoltaic (PV) panels had enough sunshine to generate more than 100 per cent of the electricity needs of an average household.

Dr Gardner said: "Thanks to a super sunny month, solar was on sizzling form and could have met more than 100 per cent of household electricity demand in towns and cities across Scotland."

Across the UK, solar energy generated a record amount of power on 26 May.

National Grid announced that the nation’s thousands of solar PV panels produced a record 8.7 gigawatts (GW), 24.3 per cent of UK demand, at 1pm.

The news follows the announcement that the renewable energy sector in the UK experienced its best ever quarter at the beginning of this year, with wind, solar, biomass and hydro all registering record levels of energy generation. 

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