Electricity generated from renewables surpassed power from gas for the first time in the three months from July to September, official figures show.
A record 38.9% of power was generated by wind, solar, hydro and other renewables in the third quarter of 2019, marginally higher than the 38.8% share of electricity coming from gas over the three-month period.
The statistics from the Business and Energy Department also reveal that coal generated just 1% of power over the period.
READ MORE: Scotland's oil boom 'can last another 30 years'
Low-carbon electricity overall, which includes renewables and nuclear, reached new highs of 57.3% of the mix, despite lower output from nuclear reactors, as a result of strong levels of generation from technology such as wind.
The figures, which show the ongoing switch away from fossil fuels – particularly coal – to cleaner sources of power, came after the Government’s climate advisers urged the Prime Minister to drive ambitious action on tackling emissions.
The Committee on Climate Change wrote to Boris Johnson after his election victory, urging him to make good on a manifesto pledge to deliver 40 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.
They also said ambitious action is needed to cut emissions in other areas, including from heating homes, transport, industry and agriculture.
READ MORE: North Sea oil industry 'can play its part in reducing greenhouse emissions'
In the Queen’s Speech, the Government said it would continue to take steps to meet the “world-leading” target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
Industry body RenewableUK’s head of policy and regulation Rebecca Williams said: “We’ve reached a historic tipping point with renewables outperforming gas for the first quarter ever.
“As MPs take their seats in the new Parliament today, we’re looking forward to working closely with the new Government to speed up the transition to clean power.
“Wind is playing the leading role in this, generating nearly 20% of our electricity between July and September.
“We need to use a wide range of technologies to tackle dangerous climate change, including onshore wind as well as offshore, innovative floating wind and tidal power.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel