Green energy confirmed as country's largest source of power

Renewable electricity has been confirmed as Scotland's largest source of power, as new figures show green generation met the equivalent of almost half (49.5%) of the country's needs in 2014.

Last year saw records broken for hydro, solar pv, biomass and wind generation, with onshore wind now meeting almost a third (30%) of overall electricity demand.

Joss Blamire, Senior Policy Manager at industry body Scottish Renewables, said: "These figures show how valuable the renewables sector is to Scotland, with wind and rain generating almost half of our electricity needs.

"With records broken for all our major renewable energy technologies – hydro, solar pv, biomass and wind – 2014 was the best year ever for green energy in Scotland.

"While we are still on track to meet our interim target for electricity generation, we must not forget that much still needs to be done in order to meet our target for heat, which makes up more than half of the energy we use in Scotland."

The latest figures were revealed in the Department of Energy and Climate Change's Energy Trends and Quarterly Energy Prices report, published this morning (March 26).