Scotland's wind turbines generated '98% of electricity demand' last month

Scotland's wind turbines generated '98% of electricity demand' last month

On some days, wind generated as much as 234% of demand.

Last week, we reported that ScottishPower was ditching its remaining fossil fuel generating assets and going 100% renewable. Now we hear via The Scotsman that Scotland as a whole generated the equivalent of 98% of the country's electricity demand over the whole month of October.

It's important to note, of course, that such statistics require a little bit of unpacking. When we say 98% of demand over the whole of October, that really means that sometimes Scotland's wind turbines were generating as much as 234% more than homes and businesses were using over the course of the day, while other times the output amounted to a 'mere' 64% of household demand.

Clearly, there's still a need for load balancing, demand response, energy storage and a diversity of energy sources to ensure a sustainable supply—but the sheer size of the slice of the pie that wind energy is claiming on a regular and increasingly predictable basis helps to explain why Scotland has gone so far and so fast in the switch to low carbon energy.

And now, as we reported, ScottishPower is going to start pushing hard on electric vehicles. Not only will such a move—combined with the progress made on renewables—mean outsized benefits in terms of travel's carbon footprint, but if rolled out strategically it could also help to solve the problems of renewables intermittency too.

Watch this space.

On some days, wind generated as much as 234% of demand.

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