Last month, on some days, wind generated as much as 234% of demand in Scotland.

ScottishPower is ditching its remaining fossil fuel generating assets and going 100% renewable. Scotland as a whole generated the equivalent of 98% of the country’s electricity demand over the whole month of October.

It’s important to note, of course, that such statistics require a bit of explanation. When we say 98% of demand over the whole of October, that really means that sometimes Scotland’s wind turbines were generating as much as 234% more than homes and businesses were using over the course of the day, while other times the output amounted to just 64% of household demand. On average 98% of the demand could be met by the wind turbines.

That indicates there is still a need for energy storage, load balancing and real-time demand response before we can talk about a sustainable supply.  But the sheer size of the contribution of wind energy on a regular and increasingly predictable basis helps to explain why Scotland has gone so far and so fast in the switch to renewable energy.