Electricity generated by wind and other renewables in Scotland hit a record level of 70% in 2017, up from 54% the previous year.
According to the Scottish Government, which issued the figures, the rise is largely attributed to more wind generation, with an extra 1.1GW of new capacity that came online in 2017.
Scotland’s Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse said: “These figures show Scotland’s renewable energy sector continues to grow with a new record set at 70.1% of Scotland’s electricity demand that could be met from renewable resources.
“This represents an almost 16 percentage point increase over levels seen in 2016, and places Scotland well ahead of the rest of the UK”.
Wheelhouse added: “I am pleased to see so many new projects coming online, with installed capacity reaching a new record of 10.475GW at the end of the third quarter, up almost 6% on last year, and with a strong pipeline of further projects under construction or to look forward to”.
According to Wheelhouse, despite damaging policy changes from the UK Government, most recently with the announcement of the ending of feed-in tariffs, the Scottish Government continues to champion Scotland’s renewables potential, both in terms of generation and infrastructure investment.
“As we seek to prevent the damage of climate change, we also saw progress in 2017 towards both our renewable heat target and new all energy target,” said Wheelhouse.
“We are working hard with the sector and our stakeholders to ensure that, in line with Scotland’s Energy Strategy, the correct strategic decisions are taken to further support this highly valued sector of Scotland’s economy as it goes from strength to strength,” he added