Higher wind speeds, increased amounts of solar panels and a 19.5 per cent increase in rainfall, mostly in May and June, driving hydro to record output, all boosted renewables, as did the conversion of a second unit of coal-fired power station Drax, in North Yorkshire, to biomass.
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In total, renewable electricity generation rose by more than 50% year-on-year, but the industry has warned that the gains were likely to be short-lived without continued government support.
It marks the first time that renewables have outperformed coal over an entire quarter, and the first time that renewables have met more than quarter of the country’s electricity demand.
The figures demonstrate Scotland generated 4,832 GWh of renewable electricity in Q2 2015, a 37.3 per cent increase in renewable electricity from the same quarter in 2014.
The country has already reached its 2020 target for reducing energy consumption seven years early – down by 13.3 per cent from 2005-2007 baseline levels.
More of the UK’s energy is now produced by renewable sources than coal.
In June, the government said it would end the Renewables Obligation (RO) subsidies one year early for onshore wind, while it has also removed other supports such as Levy Exemption Certificates and the feed-in tariff for small solar schemes.
Responding to today’s news that renewables now deliver 25% of electricity generation (double the 2012 percentage), WWF-UK’s Head of Energy and Climate Change Emma Pinchbeck said: “Renewables are no utopian fantasy – they are delivering here and now and could provide a far higher proportion of our energy mix”.
“Scotland has made great progress in increasing the amount of clean, green electricity in our energy mix”.
“If they are going to pursue this policy there should be a sufficiently flexible grace period covering projects already in the planning system”.
“Renewable Energy Generation has curtailed investment in new onshore wind and solar development whilst initiating a redundancy programme, expected to result in cost savings of approximately GBP1.3million per annum”, said the company.
Effective for April next year, removal of the “grandfathering” in the United Kingdom will be applicable for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects which have below 5MW capacity.
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Juliet Davenport, the chief executive of renewable energy generator Good Energy, added:”A future powered exclusively by renewables is possible but only if practical and pragmatic, evidence based policy for renewable energy is in place”.
