July might have been one of the wettest and windiest on record but it was a huge success for Scotland’s renewables industry

July might have been one of the wettest, windiest and most miserable on record, but look on the bright side – it was a huge success for Scotland’s renewables industry.

Analysis by environmental charity WWF Scotland of wind and solar data provided by WeatherEnergy found that for the month of July there was enough wind generated output to supply 100% or more of Scottish homes on eight out of the 31 days of July.

WWF Scotland’s director Lang Banks said: “It may have been among one of the wettest and windiest months in decades, but July also turned out to be a belter of a month for wind power in Scotland.

“Thanks to a combination of increased capacity and much windier weather, output from turbines was up more than half compared to the same period last year – supplying power equivalent to the electrical needs of 1.75 million homes.

“Improving energy efficiency and embracing renewables is what's going to be required to take the world one step closer to addressing the challenge of global climate change."

Even though it seemed like the sun had gone on holiday for much of the month, solar energy continued to surge.

Banks said: “Despite the clouds and overcast skies, for tens of thousands of homes that have installed solar panels to generate electricity or heat water, around four-fifths of their electricity or hot water needs could have been met by the sun. This all helped Scotland to further reduce its reliance on polluting fossil fuels during July.”

Karen Robinson of WeatherEnergy said: “Come rain or shine, Scotland still manages to pump out clean power by the bucket load. While people might not be too surprised to learn wind power output was up in July, they might be to discover that solar power output was impressive too.

“When it comes to renewables in Scotland, it would appear every rain cloud has a silver lining, if not a green one.”