SCOTTISH homes fitted with solar panels would have seen enough sunshine last month to meet their entire electricity consumption, according to environmentalists.
WWF Scotland said wind turbines also produced enough energy to meet the electrical requirements of around three-quarters (76 per cent) of homes and over a third (36 per cent) of Scotland’s entire energy consumption in May.
The charity has published the analysis to urge the Scottish Government to make greater use of renewables in its forthcoming energy strategy.
WeatherEnergy compiled the WWF analysis, and said the solar energy data “clearly shows that there’s plenty of sunshine to meet a significant proportion of an average family’s electricity and hot water needs during some months of the year”.
According to the Met Office there was an average of 211 hours of sunshine last month, over a quarter more than the average May sunshine and regarded as an “anomaly” from long-term trends.
WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: “For the tens of thousands of Scottish households that have already installed solar panels, there was enough sun to potentially meet all of their electricity or hot water needs, helping to reduce our reliance on polluting fossil fuels.
“During the month, wind turbines in Scotland produced output equivalent to the average electricity needs of over 1.8 million homes.
“These figures underline the fantastic progress Scotland has made on harnessing renewables, especially to generate electricity. However, with less than 13 per cent of our total energy needs coming from renewable sources, it’s now time to widen our attention on de-carbonising beyond just our power sector.
“That’s why the forthcoming review of Scotland’s energy strategy must set a target of meeting at least half of all our energy needs from renewables by 2030. In the same way Ministers helped drive forward progress in renewable electricity through targets, setting higher ambition for covering all of our energy needs would help give clarity about the transition and the greater certainty to investors.”
Karen Robinson, of WeatherEnergy, added: “The data clearly shows that there’s plenty of sunshine to meet a significant proportion of an average family’s electricity and hot water needs.”
SNP MSP Joan McAlpine welcomed the figures. She said: “These new figures are yet more evidence of how successful the SNP approach to promoting green energy has been.”
http://www.thenational.scot/news/Solar has big role to play in energy mix, firm believes. 18533
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