Renewable energy holds the key to powering Scotland’s future. The country is so richly blessed with prized natural resources. It is well-placed to become a key player in the sector. The renewables industry currently contributes £6.4bn to Scotland’s economy and employs more than 23,000 people.
There are some amazing statistics that show the extent of Scotland’s natural wealth in renewables:
- Our total exports of energy to the rest of the UK are worth around £5.1 billion per annum, of which £2.8bn is nominally low-carbon/renewable energy.
- The renewables industry currently contributes £6.4bn to Scotland’s economy and employs more than 23,000 people in Scotland. The industry is predicted to expand exponentially in the next few years.
- Onshore wind in Scotland supports almost 2300 jobs directly (43% of the UK total) and is responsible for 51% of the UK’s turnover in onshore wind activities.
- The number of employees in Scotland’s offshore wind sector grew by 171% between 2014-2017.
- With less than 1% of the population of Europe, Scotland has 25% of Europe’s entire offshore wind power resources, 25% of Europe’s tidal energy resources and 10% of wave energy potential.
- In 2018, Scotland accounted for 24% of the UK’s renewable energy.
The renewables industry offers Scotland huge potential for growth. In the race to replace traditional ways of generating energy with alternatives involving natural processes, wind, wave, tidal, solar, geothermal and hydroelectric energy have become the key environmentally friendly energy sources of the future. Biomass energy is also classified as renewable.