Investment in renewable energies in Scotland has increased dramatically in recent years. Since 2009 the industry has attracted £2.8 billion and this number just keeps climbing.
This money has seen an incredible number of solar panels, onshore and offshore wind farms, marine energy arrays, hydro-electric systems and biofuel and biomass generators installed.
Investment in solar energy from the end of 2008 to April 2012 totalled £206 million and the country's existing PV capacity stood at 13,728 GHw in 2011.
Solar energy and other renewables are sure to continue expanding rapidly, particularly after a recent announcement from the country's First Minister Alex Salmond.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) has set itself a new target of generating 50 per cent of the nation’s electricity from renewable sources by 2015. This is an extremely ambitious target, particularly as the previous aim was to generate the equivalent of 100 per cent of electrical demand by 2020.
This announcement comes off the back of last year's renewable energy achievements, where renewable output equalled 35 per cent of its electricity demand, up from the expected 31 per cent.
Commenting on this new goal, Mike MacKenzie, a member of the SNP who sits on the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, said: "Scotland has had ambitious targets for renewable electricity for some time, but the fantastic progress that has been made towards them has allowed us to set even more challenging ones.
"The renewables sector is bringing thousands of jobs and many millions of pounds of investment to Scotland. Harnessing the enormous renewable energy potential that exists in Scotland is an essential part of securing economic recovery and the fantastic headway we are making is hugely positive."
As well as solar energy, the government plans on investing heavily in developing off-shore wind farms and wave tidal power projects.
Currently, according to solarpowerportal.co.uk, Scotland is estimated to have a quarter of Europe's offshore wind and tidal energy resource and a tenth of its potential wave capacity.