Big Six Firm is going all in on renewables

Scottish Power, one of the Big Six energy companies in the UK, announced this week that it had sold its last 4 gas fired power stations and was now exclusively generating from a portfolio of onshore and offshore wind farms. By 2020, Scottish Power expects to complete the construction of the world's largest offshore windfarm, East Anglia One, which will have a generating capacity of 714 MW. Later down the line, the group is also expecting to develop an even larger 1,200 MW project, East Anglia Three, which was granted planning permission in August 2017.

In addition to the good news above, Scottish Power also announced this week that they will be investing in solar for the first time, as it sees this technology as complementary to it's wind plant.

The group currently generates enough electricity to supply 1.2 million homes, and is planning to invest £5.2bn and double it's current capacity.

The firm's Spanish parent, Iberdrola, is aiming to reduce emissions by 30% by 2020 and 50% by 2030 compared to 2007, with underlying objective to be completely carbon neutral by 2050.

Kate Blagojevic, head of energy at Greenpeace UK commented: "Big utilities across Europe have been shedding their dirty fossil fuel infrastructure because it makes economic and environmental sense."

21 Oct 2018