Rise in number of Scots communities producing own energy

More communities are producing their own renewable energy, with a 17% increase in nine months, according to a new report.

Scotland had 595MW of community and locally-owned renewable capacity in June this year - enough to power about 300,000 homes, the research found.

This was a 17% increase on the operational capacity in the last report in September 2015, when the operating capacity was estimated at 508MW.

As in previous years, the largest proportion of operational community and locally-owned capacity was on Scottish farms and estates, which produced 41% (244MW), followed by local authorities, which made 18% (108MW).

The Energy Saving Trust report, published on December 29, found there are 15,570 locally and community-owned renewables sites in Scotland at present, though more wish to pursue projects.

Within those already in place, the two largest power sources continue to be onshore wind (273MW) and biomass (162MW).

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