Scottish Water is celebrating after achieving a major renewable energy milestone.

The utility has confirmed that the amount of renewable energy it generates and facilitates is now more than double its electricity consumption, thanks to a combination of Scottish Water's own investment and private investment on its estate.

New figures have now revealed the company generates and hosts 923 Gigawatt hour (GWh) per annum of renewable energy, enough to power more than 300,000 homes for a year.

The company has achieved this figure through a range of initiatives, including 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.

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Over 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 £8 million 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.

Welcoming the figures, Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: "Congratulations to Scottish Water for achieving this significant milestone. By generating and hosting more renewable power than they consume, they are providing a great example to other companies of how improving energy efficiency and investing in renewable power can have a real impact.

"This helps 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.

"This work feeds into our environmental targets which will help make Scotland a cleaner and greener place to live and provide other businesses and public sector organisations with the confidence to invest in renewable power."

(LM/MH)