Given the scale of water company energy bills in England and Wales progress with grasping the benefits of a host of renewables has been tortuously slow. Water Companies have the assets and skills to move much further and faster with renewables to generate far in excess of their needs. Ofwat should be driving this process to help drive down prices and do their bit to prevent climate change. Bob Earll

Scottish Water has achieved a major energy milestone after it was confirmed that the amount of renewable energy the company generates and facilitates is now more than double its electricity consumption.

Through a combination of Scottish Water’s own investment in renewable energy and hosting private investment on its estate, new figures show the company now generates and hosts 923 Gigawatt hour (GWh) per annum of renewable energy. The figure, which is UK industry leading in terms of facilitated generation, is enough to power more than 300,000 homes for a year.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon highlighted the achievement speaking at the All-Energy conference in Glasgow,  Scottish Water is one of the biggest users of electricity in the country and consumes about 440 GWh per year of grid electricity at sites such as water and waste water treatment works.

The company has achieved the energy efficiency figures through a range of initiatives, including self-generation on many of its sites, utilising new technology including hydro, wind, photovoltaic solar, biomass boilers and combined heat and power (CHP), and hosting third-party private generation such as large-scale windfarms. In just three years, Scottish Water has raised the annual financial benefits of its efforts to reduce its energy bill and increase renewable generation to more than £8m and facilitated more than £390m of private investment on its estate.

More than 70 of the company’s water and wastewater treatment works are either self-sufficient or partly sufficient in their power requirements, leading to lower operating costs and a more sustainable business. As a result, Scottish Water is making a significant contribution to Scotland’s national economic, carbon and renewable energy targets.

Roseanna Cunningham, the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, said the water company’s efforts had helped to ensure that charges are kept as low as possible with average household water charges £42 lower in Scotland than they are in England and Wales.

Fraser Purves, Energy Manager of Scottish Water’s energy programme, commented:

“We have invested in a number of innovative measures such as low-carbon, low-cost treatment technologies and doubled our renewable energy capacity to more than 58GWh through hydro, wind, photovoltaic solar, biomass boilers and combined heat and power (CHP).

“Scottish Water has installed more than 4000 smart meters to target energy opportunities and, in just three years, these have raised the annual financial benefits to more than £8m, cut carbon emissions by 16% since 2006-7 and facilitated more than £390m of private investment on its estate.

Scottish Water Horizons is currently investing in a major programme of renewables. This includes utilising technology that recovers heat from waste water. This has already been used successfully at Borders College in Galashiels, the first project of its kind in the UK. A similar project is under way at the Aqualibrium leisure centre in Campbeltown and more are being planned.  The Campbeltown project is the first heat from sewage project to be started since Scottish Water Horizons and SHARC Energy Systems joined forces in March 2018 to form a joint venture which will enable them to expand and accelerate the deployment of waste water heat recovery systems across Scotland.

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