Enough wind energy was generated to power 124% of Scottish households during the first half of 2017.

A blustery start to the year has helped boost Scotland’s wind power generation to record levels, new figures have shown.

Analysis by WWF Scotland found wind turbines provided 1,039,001MWh to the National Grid during June – enough to power three million homes for a month.

Over the first six months of 2017, enough wind energy was generated to power 124% of Scottish households – an increase of 24% over the previous record set in 2015.

Wind power was also found to have generated the equivalent of 57% of Scotland’s entire electricity needs during the first half of the year.

Scotland is knocking it out of the park on wind power

Dr Sam Gardner, WWF Scotland’s acting director, said: “The first six months of 2017 have certainly been incredible for renewables, with wind turbines alone helping to ensure millions of tonnes of climate-damaging carbon emissions were avoided.

“Scotland is continuing to break records on renewable electricity, attracting investment, creating jobs and tackling climate change. If we want to reap the same rewards in the transport and heating sectors we need the Scottish Government to put in place strong policies on energy efficiency and transport in the forthcoming Climate Change Bill.

“That’s why we’re calling on people to act for our future and tell the First Minister they want a strong climate bill that will deliver a fairer and healthier low carbon Scotland.”

Data from renewables monitoring body WeatherEnergy was analysed to obtain the results.

Karen Robinson, of WeatherEnergy, said: “It’s great to see this data confirm that Scotland is knocking it out of the park on wind power with total output for June in particular up on the same period compared to the past two years.

“There’s no doubt renewables are helping households increasingly avoid fossil fuels for their electricity needs.”