Majority of Scotland's Power Demand Met by Renewables in October

Wind turbines were generating power at record levels this October across Scotland. Turbines generated the equivalent of 98% of all Scotland’s electricity demand or enough to power nearly 5 million homes.

Dr Sam Gardner, acting director at WWF Scotland said: “What a month October proved to be, with wind powering on average 98 per cent of Scotland’s entire electricity demand for the month, and exceeding our total demand for a staggering 16 out of 31 days.

“These figures clearly show wind is working, it’s helping reduce our emissions and is the lowest cost form of new power generation.  It’s also popular, with a recent survey also showing more and more people support turbines in rural areas. [2] That’s why it’s essential that the UK Government unlocks market access for onshore wind at a time when we need to be scaling up electrification of heat and transport.”

• National Grid demand for the month –1,850,512 MWh
• What % of this could have been provided by wind power –98%
• Best day – 23^rd October 2018, generation was 105,900.94 MWh, powering 8.72m homes, 356% of households.  Demand that day was 45,274.5MWh – wind generation was 234% of that.
• Worst day –18^th October 2018 when generation was 18,377.71MWh powering 1,512,568 homes, 62% of households.  Demand that day was 73,628.5MWh – wind generation was 25%
• How many days generation was over 100% of households – 27
• How many days generation was over 100% of demand – 16

Alex Wilcox Brooke, Weather Energy Project Manager at Severn Wye Energy Agency said: “Octobers figures are a prime example of how reliable & consistent wind production can be, with production on 16 days outstripping national demand.”