Renewable energy stats show ‘glimpse of what’s possible’

Environmental campaigners have welcomed new figures showing a big jump in renewable energy generation in Scotland saying they gave a “glimpse of what’s possible”.

Campaigners cautioned that more needs to be done to ensure that benefits of increased renewable energy were being felt by workers and communities.

Key statistics for Q4 2024:

A record 38.4 TWh of renewable electricity was generated in Scotland in 2024 – a 13.2% increase compared from 33.9 TWh in 2023.

In 2024, there was 17.6 GW of renewable electricity capacity in Scotland – a 14.3% increase from 15.4 GW in 2023.

Friends of the Earth Scotland head of campaigns Caroline Rance commented,

“These positive renewable energy statistics give us a glimpse of what’s possible for Scotland. The benefits of renewables are huge, but they are not yet sufficiently reaching our communities and the workers who are responsible for their deployment, whether that is due to manufacturing taking place overseas or big business sucking up all the profits of generation.

“These figures highlight why we do not need to build a new gas burning power station to generate electricity at Peterhead and lock ourselves into an outdated and expensive fossil fuel system. We should be investing in ways to store renewable energy as well as reducing overall energy demand so that the power we create goes even further.”