SCOTLAND'S renewable electricity output was at record levels in the first three months of the year, leaving the country still on target to meet interim targets in efforts to be reliant on green energy.
A record 6,678 GWh of renewable electricity was generated by various schemes, an increase of more than 50 per cent from the same quarter in 2013, and 10.4 per cent higher than the previous record. It is primarily due to a record quarter of hydro output.
This is 9.2 per cent higher than the previous record quarter at the end of 2011. Wind generation is four per cent higher than at the end of 2013.
Green energy met a record breaking 46.5 per cent of gross electricity consumption last year, with the new figures confirming the pro-gress as it aims to meet 2015's interim target of being 50 per cent reliant on renewables.
Joss Blamire, senior policy manager at Scottish Renewables, said: "It is a very encouraging start to the year for renewables, and the figures also confirm the record amount of output we had in 2013. Renewables are now well on track to become Scotland's number one source of electricity."
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: "Last year was a record year for renewables generation in Scotland, but the initial figures for 2014 show that renewables generation continues to go from strength to strength, with the figures for the first quarter of 2014 setting a new record for renewables generation in Scotland.
Meanwhile Mr Ewing and his Westminster counterpart Ed Davey chaired the Scottish Island Renewables Delivery Forum in Glasgow yesterday.
Key decision-makers from industry and the public sector met to agree a timetable of practical actions to connect islands to the mainland transmission grid.
Highlands and Islands SNP MSP Mike MacKenzie said the talks had been positive and he was "optimistic that we will see further progress soon."
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