More than 40,000 homes and 850 business premises in Scotland now have solar power panels installed – an increase of 28% over the past 12 months.
Sunny Aberdeenshire has the greatest number of solar PV installations in Scotland, followed in second and third places respectively by the Highlands and Fife.
And the Solar Trade Association Scotland and WWF Scotland have called on the Scottish Government to use its powers to further boost solar power from its latest installed capacity of 179 MW and to reduce C02 emissions.
According to the Energy Savings Trust, a typical home solar PV system could save over a tonne of carbon dioxide per year – that’s more than 30 tonnes over its lifetime.
John Forster, Chairman of the Solar Trade Association Scotland, said: “It’s great to see the use of solar power continue to grow.
“Scotland’s new building regulations are a great example of where Scotland is leading the way, as they are helping to increase the uptake of solar on thousands of new homes every year.
“This is very much in contrast to the scrapping of the Zero Carbon Homes target by the Westminster Government.
“However, as new homes make up a tiny fraction of our housing stock, it’s critical we find a way to encourage the use of solar on existing buildings too.
“Having found a way forward on new homes, we’d like to see the Scottish Government bring forward measures to encourage much greater uptake of solar power on the many more existing homes and buildings.”
WWF Scotland director Lang Banks added: “Although the total installed solar capacity is small when compared to wind energy, we should remember that collectively these solar panels are helping to prevent thousands of tonnes of climate-damaging emissions being emitted every year.
“We therefore call upon the Scottish Government to do all that it can to help ensure Scotland switches on to the full potential of solar power.”
Total installed solar PV capacity by Scottish Local Authority area in MWs (all types) in 2015
| Local Authority | MWs installed and number of individual installations/sites |
| Aberdeen | 3.7 (784) |
| Aberdeenshire | 18.5 (4,239) |
| Angus | 8.8 (1,482) |
| Argyll & Bute | 4.5 (1,207) |
| Clackmannanshire | 2.0 (515) |
| Dumfries & Galloway | 10.5 (2,474) |
| Dundee | 2.5 (556) |
| East Ayrshire | 4.1 (1,088) |
| East Dunbartonshire | 2.2 (632) |
| East Lothian | 4.1 (854) |
| East Renfrewshire | 1.5 (413) |
| Edinburgh | 4.5 (1,348) |
| Eilean Siar | 0.9 (238) |
| Falkirk | 3.5 (989) |
| Fife | 13.3 (3,693) |
| Glasgow | 6.2 (1,896) |
| Highland | 13.4 (2,505) |
| Inverclyde | 1.2 (316) |
| Midlothian | 2.1 (536) |
| Moray | 5.5 (1,371) |
| North Ayrshire | 4.4 (1,110) |
| North Lanarkshire | 7.5 (2,032) |
| Orkney | 1.2 (337) |
| Perth & Kinross | 9.3 (2,024) |
| Renfrewshire | 3.8 (1,027) |
| Scottish Borders | 11.1 (2,595) |
| Shetland Islands | 0.1 (40) |
| South Ayrshire | 4.0 (1,040) |
| South Lanarkshire | 9.8 (2,530) |
| Stirling | 6.7 (1,872) |
| West Dunbartonshire | 2.5 (769) |
| West Lothian | 5.3 (1,439) |
| TOTAL | 178.7 (43,951) |
Source: Ofgem’s FiT installation database
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