Solar power in Scotland is not a little enterprise

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The call by WWF Scotland follows the publication of new figures revealing that there was enough sunshine in April to have met more than 100% of the electricity needs of an average home in Scotland or 99% or more of an average household’s hot water needs.

Wind turbines in Scotland also generated enough electricity on average to supply the electrical needs of 69% of Scottish households - 1.66 million homes.

Last month, it was announced that work on Scotland’s largest solar park will start later this year in Angus.



The call by WWF Scotland follows the publication of new figures revealing that there was enough sunshine in April to have met more than 100% of the electricity needs of an average home in Scotland or 99% or more of an average household’s hot water needs.

Wind turbines in Scotland also generated enough electricity on average to supply the electrical needs of 69% of Scottish households - 1.66 million homes.

Last month, it was announced that work on Scotland’s largest solar park will start later this year in Angus.

Analysis by WWF Scotland of solar and wind data provided by WeatherEnergy found that for the month of April:

• For homes fitted with solar PV panels, there was enough sunshine to generate an estimated 113% of the electricity needs of an average home in Edinburgh, 111% in Aberdeen, 106% in Glasgow, and 104% in Inverness

• For those homes fitted with solar hot water panels, there was enough sunshine in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness to generate an estimated 100% of an average households hot water needs, and 99% for homes in Aberdeen

• Wind turbines in Scotland alone provided an estimated 608,601MWh of electricity to the National Grid, enough to supply on average the electrical needs of 69% of Scottish households (1.66 million homes) - this is similar to April 2014, when wind energy provided 617,384MWh

• Scotland’s total electricity consumption (i.e. homes, business and industry) for April was 2,080,445MWh - wind power therefore generated the equivalent of 29% of Scotland’s total electricity consumption for the month.
 

Solar panels being installed image via Shutterstock.

Read more at ENN Affiliate ClickGreen.