Scotland CAN get to %100 renewable energy

100% renewable energy ‘attainable’
http://www.strathearnherald.co.uk/strathearn-news/scottish-news/2012/08/10/100-renewable-energy-attainable-64054-31597089/ Aug 10 2012 The ambition to generate 100% of Scotland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020 could be within reach, a report has suggested.
Scotland’s Renewable Energy Sector In Numbers – an online portal by industry body Scottish Renewables which pulls together figures from a range of sources – shows figures on energy capacity, output, jobs and investment, and emissions which were buried away in dense government reports.
The Scottish Government wants to meet the existing level of demand for
electricity with renewable sources by 2020. Actual demand may be
higher or lower at that point.
The portal demonstrates that current generators, with a total capacity
of 4.9 gigawatts (GW), generated 13,735 gigawatt hours (GWh) of
electricity in 2011. It suggests a further 12GW could be generated by
projects that are already in the pipeline, although the majority of
them are stuck in the planning stage. If all of these projects make it
through by 2020, they have the potential to produce around 37GWh of
electricity at current efficiency levels, close to the 39GWh of
electricity Scotland consumes at present. The industry is said to have
made a capital investment of £2.8 billion since 2009, supporting
around 11,000 jobs.
Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: “These
figures show Scotland’s renewables industry is very much bucking the
economic trend. At a time of sluggish growth the renewable electricity
sector is expanding by more than 10% a year and now generates the
equivalent of 35% of annual demand.”
Most renewables projects in planning are for onshore wind farms, with
around 6.5GW-worth approved and a further 4.4GW-worth under
consideration. Wind farms often encounter objections from local
communities, which could present an obstacle to achieving the target,
according to the report. Around 4GW-worth of renewables projects have
failed to make it through the planning stages, source material from
the report suggests.
Meanwhile, the renewables planning drive continues with a proposed
five-turbine extension to ScottishPower Renewables’s Whitelee
Windfarm, near Glasgow. The extension would generate up to 12
megawatts (MW) of renewable energy and increase the overall capacity
of Europe’s largest onshore windfarm to 551MW, enough to power the
annual needs of around 300,000 homes.
Simon Christian, UK managing director of ScottishPower Renewables,
said: “The original windfarm continues to perform extremely well, and
we have now nearly completed two extensions with minimal disruption in
the local area. Whitelee is a fantastic demonstration of the economic
benefits that renewable energy projects can deliver.”