Renewable Energy in Scotland
This month's regional focus on Scotland contains news of some of the latest renewable energy and energy efficiency developments north of the border.According to The Scotsman, the amount of green energy generated (or under construction) in Scotland is now enough to power 80 per cent of the country's two million homes, with the total approved renewable energy capacity in Scotland standing at nearly four gigawatts. This means that the Scottish Government is a long way towards meeting its target of 31 per cent of electricity being provided from renewable sources by 2011, equivalent to around five gigawatts of renewable electricity generating capacity.
If you are a farmer or landowner, you may be interested in the Scottish Renewables Forum's ‘Get into Renewables’ initiative. SRF estimates that Scottish farms could generate up to one sixth of Scotland's household electricity demand. What's more, this would contribute significantly to reducing Scottish CO2 emissions while increasing security of energy supply. This could be achieved if each farm installed one 15kW wind turbine (such as that manufactured by Proven Engineering in Stewarton south of Glasgow). Other technologies, including micro-hydro, ground and air source heat pumps, wood fuel boilers and stoves, anaerobic digestion of slurry wastes and solar hot water panels could also contribute. A word of warning though... bear in mind our earlier post about wind turbine siting - not every farm will be a suitable location for a turbine.
For grants and funding in Scotland, the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative (SCHRI) aims to support the development of both community scale and household renewable energy projects. Funding for householders is set at 30% of the installed cost of a renewable measure up to £4,000. Householders can also apply for separate grants for two different technologies. Significantly, builders and developers are now available to apply for grants, which now includes air-source heat pumps.
Finally, congratulations to the South Ayrshire Energy Agency, who have recieved an Ashden Sustainability Commendation for using part of the profits from a wind farm to help those on low incomes in rural areas to draught proof and insulate their lofts and cavity walls and help reduce their ever-rising winter fuel bills. Well done them!
See you later!
posted by GreenEnergy360 at
17:46
