Scotland makes GBP 2.8bn of investments in renewables since 2009

Aug 10, 2012 - Scotland's renewable power sector has bucked the trend of the economic downturn with GBP 2.8 billion (USD 4.4m/EUR 3.6m) of capital investments since the start of 2009, industry association Scottish Renewables said today.

The association's chief executive Niall Stuart said the investment has helped support over 11,000 jobs, develop the supply chain and ensure the future of a number of businesses. He added the renewable electricity sector was growing at an annual rate of more than 10% and currently produced enough power to meet 35% of the annual consumption.

Investments were driven by onshore wind, which accounted for GBP 1.62 billion of the spending in the period from the start of 2009 to the end of April 2012 and added 1,159 MW of capacity. Next was offshore wind with GBP 589 million of investment and 190 MW of installed capacity in the period. Solar photovoltaics spending totalled GBP 206 million, adding 75 MW of capacity.

Stuart said it was of no surprise that onshore wind, which was the lowest-cost renewable technology for large-scale deployment, attracted the highest investment. "It is mature sectors such as the wind industry that will help fund emerging sources of renewable electricity and under-write investment in grid connections that will benefit sectors such as wave and tidal," he said.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.560/EUR 1.272)

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