Scotland on Track to Get 80% Renewable Energy by 2020

December 28th, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

Those canny wee Scots! They know how to save money with fuel-free energy, that decade after decade, has a fuel cost of absolutely zero! The small nation combines great engineering aptitude with some of the most ambitious climate legislation in the world. A frugal understanding that investing in new energy now saves money over the long haul doesn’t hurt either.

Stunning new renewable deployment statistics out from the Scottish government reveals that the small nation is easily making its goals.

As of 2009, renewables already met more than 27% of its electricity use.

As of this year, with 7 Gigawatts of renewable power online or in process, Scotland is on target to meet its ambitious goal of getting 31% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2011, and a staggering 80% by 2020, thirty years ahead of the world.

Not only was the nation able to meet its own target but it also exported 24% to the UK, contributing to a sustainable economic growth with green jobs to match. Renewable energy production grew by 20% overall in 2009 to 10,744 Gigawatt hours, which included a 37% rise in wind, solar and wave energy.

The Scottish Government’s next target is to meet 80% of electricity demand from renewables by 2020, a solid 30 years ahead of most nations’ goals.

Scotland is surrounded by some of the best wave energy potential in the world, and the country is a world leader in developing wave energy at the prototype level, but currently only 5 of the applications being processed are for hydro energy of any kind, while 25 are for (on-shore) wind.

Given the rate at which it is investing in R&D and testing of a completely new form of energy; capturing the power of the waves, it is likely that some of the 80% renewable energy by 2020 is going to come from its raging sea.

Image: Anna Kich

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Tags: progressive legislation

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.