Scotland Wind Turbines Produce 126% Of Needed Power
November 07, 2014By Lance Powers
The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) of Scotland recently published information that Scotland had a "bumper month" for renewable energy in October 2014. Wind energy alone produced enough electricity to power 126% of the needs of every Scotland home.
The wind turbines produced 982,842 MWh. That was enough electricity to supply 3,045,000 homes in the UK or 126% of the needs of every home in Scotland. To be fair, Scotland had a lot of wind blowing to help reach these numbers.
Solar did fairly well too. Of those homes that had PV solar panels, there was enough sunlight to provide electricity for an estimated 33% - 46% of the needs of an average home (the amount of power generated varied between cities).
Of the homes that are outfitted with solar hot water systems, they provided somewhere between (27% and 41%) of the needs (as above, the amount of hot water created varied from city to city).
The first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, has claimed that Scotland could possibly generate all of its electricity from green power by 2025. This is certainly a lofty goal, and will be very expensive.
Unlike coal or gas fired power plants, wind and solar rely on mother nature. When the wind is calm or the sunlight is low, little or no power is generated. These obstacles will need to be overcome if the country is to rely completely on renewable energy.
Still, it's an amazing achievement to produce as much renewable power as they have. Hopefully other countries around the world will follow suit.
Image Credit: By Leaflet (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons