Scottish independent generation more than doubles in 2014

The number of Scottish energy users generating their own electricity rose by more than 50 per cent in 2014, independent energy supplier Smartest Energy has revealed.

A report by the supplier shows that 775 organisations bought generating equipment in 2014, equating to £1.5 million of investment each week, and up from 509 organisations in 2013.

Smartest Energy said the rapid increase highlights “how significant the independent generation sector now was for Scotland.”

The report says Scotland now has 775 independent commercial-scale projects with a capacity of more than 50kW operating, generating £271 million worth of electricity a year.

Of the £2.1 billion spent on independent generation in total to date across Great Britain, almost a quarter, £494.1 million, has been in Scotland.

Smartest Energy said communities and businesses were making the investment “in a bid to insulate themselves from rising energy costs, cut carbon emissions and sell excess power to the grid”.

Smartest Energy’s head of generation Iain Robertson said: “That fact that over £1.5 million was invested every week last year also demonstrates the resilience of the sector against a backdrop of political uncertainty, changes to renewable subsidies and the fall seen in wholesale power prices.”

More than 4,460 commercial-scale sites of at least 50kW capacity are now in operation across the UK, generating an estimated £1.08 billion in wholesale energy a year, Smartest Energy said.

Since 2013 the amount invested in the sector has risen by 75 per cent, project numbers have more than doubled and their share of total UK generation ris now more than 7 per cent.

Scottish Renewables policy manager Stephanie Clark said: “This report shows quite clearly that there is a growing willingness to consider renewable technology as a way to fix energy bills rather than exposing a business or community to fluctuations in the wholesale cost of fossil fuel energy supplied from the grid.”