Local authorities in Scotland and the Humber among top UK regions for renewable energy capacity

Local authorities in Scotland and the Humber, including Moray and North East Lincolnshire, are among the leading UK regions by renewable energy capacity.

Analysis of government data by Uswitch found Moray leads the UK for renewable energy capacity, with 47.4 MW installed per 1,000 households.

Moray is followed by North East Lincolnshire (41.4 MW) in the Humber, Boston (32 MW), East Lothian (27.3 MW), with Highland Council (26.3 MW) rounding out the top five.

But North East Lincolnshire is leading the charge in terms of renewable energy growth in recent years, with a 1017% increase in capacity between 2018 and 2023.

In the same period, Boston saw a 985% increase, followed by East Lothian (734%), Inverclyde (608%) and Rugby (444%).

© Supplied by Orsted

Aberdeen City also saw significant growth in renewable energy capacity, with a 437% increase, leaving it in sixth place.

Scotland leads in onshore wind

Uswitch found Scottish local authorities rank highly in the list, largely due to strong investment and favourable conditions for wind power.

For onshore wind, the Highland local authority tops the list with 18.3 MW installed per 1,000 households, followed by Dumfries and Galloway (13.1 MW) and South Ayrshire (12.7 MW).

In offshore wind, North East Lincolnshire again finds itself atop the list with 40.4 MW of capacity installed per 1,000 homes, followed by Moray at 35 MW.

The growth in offshore wind capacity in North East Lincolnshire has been largely driven by major projects like Ørsted’s Hornsea 1 and Hornsea 2 projects. Meanwhile, Moray is home to Ocean Winds’ Moray East and Moray West developments.

Despite North East Lincolnshire’s offshore wind success, Danish developer Ørsted recently canned its Hornsea 4 project, despite securing a contract for difference (CfD) in the government’s latest allocation round.

Increased project risk and economic factors resulted in the decision to discontinue the 2.4 GW project.

© Supplied by JMC Communications Scotland

In solar energy, East Cambridgeshire came out on top with 4.4 MW per 1,000 households, followed by South Cambridgeshire (4.3 MW) and Pembrokeshire and Torridge (each 4 MW).

But while rural areas dominated the list of renewable energy generation, some of the strongest growth was seen in urban areas like Sutton, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Barnet.

Among technology types, offshore wind experienced the largest growth between 2018 and 2023, with an 80.2% increase in capacity.

Meanwhile, municipal waste-to-energy grew by 37.1%, followed by solar photovoltaics (24.3%), anaerobic digestion (19.7%), onshore wind (15%) and sewage gas (8.6%).