LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Power failure as wind farms grow far faster than output 

Credit:  By Michael Blackley, Scottish Political Reporter | Scottish Daily Mail | 29 March 2013 | ~~

The number of wind turbines sprouting up across Scotland soared by a third last year.

But the amount of electricity they actually produced increased at a much slower rate.

Official figures published yesterday show the relentless march of wind farms across the countryside reached record levels last year.

The capacity of onshore wind turbines soared by 33 per cent to 14,181 megawatts in 2012, said the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

However, the total amount of electricity actually generated by onshore wind only went up by 17 per cent, to 8,212 gigawatt hours.

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser, convener of the Scottish parliament’s energy committee, said: ‘This exposes the folly of concentrating so much on one form of renewable energy.’

The continuing expansion of the number of wind farms is crucial if Alex Salmond is to achieve his target of 100 per cent of Scotland’s electricity needs being produced from green energy by 2020.

Shadow Energy Minister Tom Greatrex said: ‘The figures show that whilst there has been a significant expansion in onshore wind, development of largescale technologies such as offshore wind and hydro power has largely stalled.’

Industry body Scottish Renewables said total investment in 2012 reached £1.54billion, with green energy ‘on track to be Scotland’s main source of electricity by the end of this year’.

The total of green energy produced – including hydro and biomass – rose by 7 per cent last year.

In 2011, 33 per cent of Scotland’s electricity came from nuclear, followed by 21 per cent from coal, 16 per cent from gas, 14 per cent from wind and 10 per cent from hydro-electricity.

Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: ‘ In 2012 Scotland contributed more than a third of the UK’s renewables output. We remain on course to generate 100 per cent of Scotland’s electricity needs from renewables by 2020.’

Source:  By Michael Blackley, Scottish Political Reporter | Scottish Daily Mail | 29 March 2013 |

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon