Warm summer sunshine has led to a surge in the amount of household electricity being supplied by Scottish solar power.
Weeks of unusually hot temperatures and clear blue skies in June meant that more people were using renewable energy during the month than in years prior.
At the peak of the heatwave so far, on Monday, June 25, enough solar energy was generated to power Scotland’s 2.37 million households for more than three hours.
In Aberdeen, 136% of average household electricity demand was provided by solar power alone last month, compared to 85% last June.
And in Lerwick the figure was 117%, up from 95% last June.
Aberdeen also had 100% of average household hot water provided by solar power, compared to 86% last June.
That figure was 97% in Lerwick, which was a slight rise from 92% in 2017.
Across the UK, solar power produced eight gigawatts of energy on eight consecutive days, which a spokeswoman for the National Grid described as “practically unheard of”.
Solar broke the record for weekly output between 21 and 28 June, producing 533 gigawatt hours (GWh) of power. It also generated more than 75GWh on five of the seven days.
Meanwhile there are hopes that the level of solar power generated in the north-east is poised to grow further in subsequent years, with a 50 megawatt solar farm near Elgin in the pipeline.
See also; Scientific Alliance electricity generation by-type- meter banner-adv on www.ScottishEnergyNews.com home page
4 Jul 2018
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