​Renewable electricity replacing nuclear as dominant power source in Scotland

Scotland’s world leading renewables sector helped slash carbon emissions by a record 12 million tonnes last year, it has been revealed.

UK government figures showed 11.9 million tonnes of CO2 was displaced in 2013, up 14% on the previous year.

Scottish Renewables described the figures as a "milestone achievement while the Committee on Climate Change said Scotland was making good progress.

Joss Blamire, a senior policy manager at Scottish Renewables, said: "This means that not only are renewables now the number one source of electricity in Scotland, but we have achieved this milestone while preventing a record amount of harmful carbon emissions from being released into our atmosphere.

"Renewable energy in Scotland is doing exactly what it was designed to do - creating jobs, securing our energy supplies and, most importantly, reducing our carbon emissions to help limit climate change."

WWF Scotland director Lang Banks speaking from the UN's climate change conference in Lima, Peru, said: "That renewables in Scotland are now helping to displace almost a million tonnes of climate pollution every month is proof that a renewable power sector is the foundation of a truly low carbon economy - keeping the lights on, creating jobs and cutting emissions."

Other figures released last month showed renewables had overtaken nuclear to become the main source of electricity in Scotland for the first time.

Wind and hydro power produced 10.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in the first six months of this year, UK government statistics showed.

Nuclear power stations generated 7.8TWh over the same period, with 5.6TWh of electricity coming from coal-fired power stations and a further 1.4TWh from gas-fired stations.