High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Thursday, December 22, 2011
Renewable Energy
Renewable sources of energy can provide a sustainable means of generating the energy we need. Scotland particularly has huge potential for renewable energy due to its geology and climate. The Scottish Government has set a National Indicator for the amount of electricity generated annually through renewable sources as a percentage of gross annual consumption to increase to 100% by 2020, with an interim target of 31% by 2011.
This indicator helps monitor the extent to which Scottish electricity consumption can be met sustainably using renewable sources located both within Scotland and its coastal waters. The indicator equates the amount of electricity from renewables generated in Scotland annually as a percentage of Scottish gross annual consumption (electricity generated minus net exports (but including losses)).
The drop in renewable electricity generation in 2010 was a result of a fall in hydro generation due to very low rainfall in 2010.The amount of electricity generated by renewables in Scotland has almost doubled since 2000. In 2010, the amount of electricity generated in Scotland by renewable sources equated to 24.1% of the gross annual consumption of electricity in Scotland, compared with 12.2% in 2000.
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Source: Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
Notes:
(1) Hydro excludes electricity generated from hydro - pumped storage
(2) Other biofuels includes biofuels co-fired with fossil fuels
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