Renewable energy in Scotland

The production of renewable energy in Scotland is a topic that came to the fore in technical, economic, and political terms during the opening years of the 21st century. The natural resource base for renewable energy is high by European, and even global standards, with the most important potential sources being wind, wave, and tide. Renewables generate almost all of Scotland's electricity, mostly from the country's wind power.

In 2020, Scotland had 12 gigawatts (GW) of renewable electricity capacity, which produced about a quarter of total UK renewable generation. In decreasing order of capacity, Scotland's renewable generation comes from onshore wind, hydropower, offshore wind, solar PV and biomass. Scotland exports much of this electricity.

Continuing improvements in engineering and economics are enabling more of the renewable resources to be used. Fears regarding fuel poverty and climate change have driven the subject high up the political agenda. In 2020 a quarter of total energy consumption, including heat and transportation, was met from renewables, and the Scottish government target is half by 2030. Although the finances of some projects remain speculative or dependent on market incentives, there has been a significant—and, in all likelihood, long-term—change in the underpinning economics.

In addition to planned increases in large-scale generating capacity using renewable sources, various related schemes to reduce carbon emissions are being researched. Although there is significant support from the public, private and community-led sectors, concerns about the effect of the technologies on the natural environment have been expressed. There is also a political debate about the relationship between the siting, and the ownership and control of these widely distributed resources.

## Realisation of the potential

### Summary of Scotland's resource potential

### History

Electricity production is only part of the overall energy use budget. In 2002, Scotland consumed a total of 175 terawatt-hours (TWh) of energy in all forms, some 2% less than in 1990. Of this, only 20% was consumed in the form of electricity by end users, the great majority of energy utilised is from the burning of oil (41%) and gas (36%). Nonetheless, the renewable electricity generating capacity may be 60 GW or more, greater than required to provide the existing energy provided from all Scottish fuel sources of 157 TWh.

2002 figures used as a baseline in RSPB Scotland et al. (2006) for electricity production are: gas (34%), oil (28%), coal (18%) and nuclear (17%), with renewables 3% (principally hydro-electric), prior to the substantial growth in wind power output. In January 2006 the total installed electrical generating capacity from all forms of renewable energy was less than 2 GW, about a fifth of the total electrical production. Scotland also has significant quantities of fossil fuel deposits, including substantial proven reserves of oil and gas and 69% of UK coal reserves. Nonetheless, the Scottish Government has set ambitious targets for renewable energy production.

In 2005 the aim was for 18% of Scotland's electricity production to be generated by renewable sources by 2010, rising to 40% by 2020. In 2007 this was increased to 50% of electricity from renewables by 2020, with an interim target of 31% by 2011. The following year new targets to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 were announced and then confirmed in the 2009 Climate Change Delivery Plan. Maf Smith, director of the Sustainable Development Commission in Scotland said "Governments across the world are shying away from taking the necessary action. The Scottish Government must be commended for its intention to lead the way".

Most electricity in Scotland is carried through the National Grid, with Scotland's renewable mix thus contributing to the electricity production of Great Britain as a whole. By 2012, over 40% of Scotland's electricity came from renewable energy, and Scotland contributed almost 40% of the UK's renewables output. At the end of that year there was 5,801 megawatts (MW) of installed renewables electricity capacity, an increase of 20.95% (1,005 MW) on the end of 2011. Renewable electricity generation in 2012 was a record high at 14,756 GWh – an increase of 7.3% on 2011, the previous record year for renewables output. In 2015, Scotland generated 59% of its electricity consumption through renewable sources, exceeding the country's goal of 50% renewable electricity by that year.

In 2018, Scotland exported over 28% of electricity generation to the rest of the UK. By 2019 renewable electricity generation was 30,528 GWh, over 90% of Scotland's gross electricity consumption (33,914 GWh) and 21% of overall energy use was produced from renewable sources, against Scottish Government targets of 100% by 2020 and 50% by 2030 respectively. Scotland aims to produce 50% of all energy (not just electricity) from renewable sources by 2030. At the start of 2020, Scotland had 11.8 gigawatts (GW) of installed renewable electricity capacity which produced approximately 25% of total UK renewable generation (119,335 GWh). It remains a policy of the Scottish Government to reduce emissions to net zero by 2045.

### Economic impact

The renewable energy industry supports more than 11,500 jobs in Scotland, according to a 2013 study by Scottish Renewables. With 13.9 GW of renewable energy projects in the pipeline, the sector has the potential to grow quickly in the years ahead creating more jobs in the region. Glasgow, Fife and Edinburgh are key centres of offshore wind power development, and the emerging wave power and tidal power industries are centred around the Highlands and Islands. Rural job creation is being supported by bioenergy systems in areas such as Lochaber, Moray and Dumfries and Galloway. Although the finances of some projects remain speculative or dependent on market incentives there has been a significant and in all likelihood long-term change, in the underpinning economics.

An important reason for this ambition is growing international concern about human-induced climate change. The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's proposal that carbon dioxide emissions should be reduced by 60% was incorporated into the UK government's 2003 Energy White Paper. The 2006 Stern Review proposed a 55% reduction by 2030. Recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports have further increased the profile of the issue.

## Hydro-electric power

As of 2007, Scotland has 85% of the UK's hydro-electric energy resource, much of it developed by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board in the 1950s. The "Hydro Board", which brought "power from the glens", was a nationalised industry at the time although it was privatised in 1989 and is now part of Scottish and Southern Energy plc.

As of 2021, installed capacity is 1.666 GW, this is 88% of total UK capacity and includes major developments such as the 120 MW Breadalbane scheme and the 245 MW Tummel system. Several of Scotland's hydro-electric plants were built to power the aluminium smelting industry. These were built in several "schemes" of linked stations, each covering a catchment area, whereby the same water may generate power several times as it descends. Numerous remote straths were flooded by these schemes, many of the largest of which involved tunnelling through mountains as well as damming rivers. Emma Wood, the author of a study of these pioneers, described the men who risked their lives in these ventures as "tunnel tigers".

As of 2010, it is estimated that as much as another 1.2 GW of capacity remains available to exploit, mostly in the form of micro and small-hydro developments such as those in Knoydart and Kingussie.

`In reality, environmental constraints and the fact that the most easily available catchment areas have already been exploited make it unlikely that the full 1.2 GW will be exploited. The 100 MW Glendoe Project, which opened in 2009, was the first large-scale dam for almost fifty years but is likely to be one of the last of its kind.`

In April 2010 permission was granted for four new hydro schemes totalling 6.7 MW capacity in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.

There is also further potential for new pumped storage schemes that would work with intermittent sources of power such as wind and wave. Operational examples include the 440 MW Cruachan Dam and 300 MW Falls of Foyers schemes, while exploratory work for the 1.5 GW Coire Glas scheme commenced in early 2023. These schemes have the primary purpose of balancing peak demands on the electricity grid.

## Wind power

Wind power is the country's fastest growing renewable energy technology, with 8,423 MW of installed capacity as of 2018. On 7 August 2016, a combination of high wind and low consumption caused more wind power generation (106%) than consumption. Scottish wind turbines provided 39,545 MWh during the 24 hours of that date, while consumption was 37,202 MWh. It was the first time that measurements were available to confirm that fact. Electricity generated by wind in November 2018 was enough to power nearly 6 million homes and wind production outstripped total electricity demand on twenty days during that month. This latter outcome was described by environmental group WWF Scotland as "truly momentous".

### Onshore

The 54-turbine Black Law Wind Farm has a total capacity of 124 MW. It is located near Forth in South Lanarkshire and was built on an old opencast coalmine site, with an original capacity of 97 MW from 42 turbines. It employs seven permanent staff on site and created 200 jobs during construction. A second phase saw the installation of a further 12 turbines. The project has received wide recognition for its contribution to environmental objectives. The United Kingdom's largest onshore wind farm (539 MW) is at Whitelee in East Renfrewshire.

There are many other onshore wind farms, including some—such as that on the Isle of Gigha—which are in community ownership. The Heritage Trust set up Gigha Renewable Energy to buy and operate three Vestas V27 wind turbines. They were commissioned on 21 January 2005 and are capable of generating up to 675 kW of power and profits are reinvested in the community. The island of Eigg in the Inner Hebrides is not connected to the National Grid, and has an integrated renewable power supply with wind, hydro and solar and battery storage, and a rarely used diesel backup.

The siting of turbines is sometimes an issue, but surveys have generally shown high levels of community acceptance for wind power. Wind farm developers are encouraged to offer "community benefit funds" to help address any disadvantages faced by those living adjacent to wind farms. Nonetheless, Dumfries and Galloway's local development plan guidance concludes that "some areas are considered to have reached capacity for development, due to the significant cumulative effects already evident".

### Offshore

The Robin Rigg Wind Farm is a 180 MW development completed in April 2010, which is Scotland's first offshore wind farm, sited on a sandbank in the Solway Firth. Eleven of the world's most powerful wind turbines (Vestas V164 – 8.4 MW each) are located in the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre off the east coast of Aberdeenshire.

It is estimated that 11.5 GW of onshore wind potential exists, enough to provide 45 TWh of energy. More than double this amount exists on offshore sites where mean wind speeds are greater than on land. The total offshore potential is estimated at 25 GW, which although more expensive to install, could be enough to provide almost half the total energy used. Plans to harness up to 4.8 GW of the potential in the inner Moray Firth and Firth of Forth were announced in January 2010. Moray Offshore Renewables and SeaGreen Wind Energy were awarded development contracts by the Crown Estate as part of a UK-wide initiative. Also in 2010, discussions were held between the Scottish Government and Statoil of Norway with a view to developing a 5-turbine floating windfarm, possibly to be located off Fraserburgh. In July 2016, RSPB challenged development in the Firth of Forth and Firth of Tay.

Moray East Offshore Wind Farm was granted consent for a 1,116 MW development in 2014 by the Scottish Government. The 103rd and final jacket for the project was installed in December 2020. The Hywind Scotland array off the coast of Peterhead is the world's first floating wind farm. It consists of five 6 MW turbines which have a rotor diameter of 154m and is aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of larger systems of this type.

## Wave power

Various systems are under development at present aimed at harnessing the enormous potential available for wave power off Scotland's coasts.

Pme was used by the LIMPET 500 (Land Installed Marine Power Energy Transformer) energy converter that was installed on the island of Islay by Wavegen Ltd. It was a shore-based unit and generated power when waves run up the beach, creating pressure inside an inclined oscillating water column. This in turn creates pneumatic power which drives the twin 250 kW generators. Islay LIMPET was opened in 2001 and was the world's first commercial-scale wave-energy device. In March 2013 Voith Hydro decided to close down Wavegen choosing to concentrate on tidal power projects.

The Siadar Wave Energy Project was announced in 2009. This 4 MW system was planned by npower Renewables and Wavegen for a site 400 metres off the shore of Siadar Bay, in Lewis. However, in July 2011 holding company RWE announced it was withdrawing from the scheme, and Wavegen was seeking new partners. In May 2010 the "Vagr Atferd P2" Pelamis 750 kW system was launched for testing by EMEC. The device weighs 1,500 tonnes (1,700 short tons) and is 180 metres (590 ft) long.

Wave Energy Scotland is a technology development body set up in 2014 as a subsidiary of Highlands and Islands Enterprise by the Scottish Government to facilitate the development of wave energy. However, although Scotland has "more wave and tidal devices deployed in our waters than anywhere else in the world" commercial production from wave energy has been slow to develop.

## Tidal power

Unlike wind and wave, tidal power is an inherently predictable source. However the technology is in its infancy and numerous devices are in the prototype stages. Today it is known that a tall tubular tower with three blades attached to it is the typical profile of a wind turbine, but in the earlier stages of the technology's development there were a wide variety of different systems being tested. Tidal stream power captures energy from the flow of tides, often using underwater plant resembling a small wind turbine although the turbines can be horizontal, vertical, open or ducted. An example is Marine Current Turbines SeaGen 1.2 MW device at Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, which is the largest tidal stream turbine in the world. To date the only two installed tidal power plants of notable size are the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, and the Rance Tidal Power Station in Brittany, France, rated at 254 and 240 MW respectively.

The Pentland Firth between Orkney and mainland Scotland has been described as the "Saudi Arabia of tidal power" and may be capable of generating up to 10 GW although a more recent estimate suggests an upper limit of 1.9 GW. In March 2010 a total of ten sites in the area, capable of providing an installed capacity of 1.2 GW of tidal and wave generation were leased out by the Crown Estate. Several other tidal sites with considerable potential exist in the Orkney archipelago. Tidal races on the west coast at Kylerhea between Skye and Lochalsh, the Grey Dog north of Scarba, the Dorus Mòr off Crinan and the Gulf of Corryvreckan also offer significant prospects.

The "world's first community-owned tidal power generator" became operational in Bluemull Sound off Yell, Shetland, in early 2014. This 30 kW Nova Innovation device feeds into the local grid, and a 100 kW tidal turbine was connected in August 2016. At the opposite end of the country a 2010 consultants' report into the possibility of a scheme involving the construction of a Solway Barrage, possibly south of Annan, concluded that the plans "would be expensive and environmentally sensitive." In 2013 an alternative scheme using the VerdErg Renewable Energy spectral marine energy converter was proposed for a plan involving the use of a bridge along the route of an abandoned railway line between Annan and Bowness-on-Solway.

In October 2010 MeyGen, a consortium of Morgan Stanley, Atlantis Resources Corporation and International Power, received a 25-year operational lease from the Crown Estate for a 400 MW tidal power project in the Pentland Firth. However, in 2011 the plans were in difficulty after Norwegian partners Statkraft pulled out of the project. In September 2013 the Scottish Government granted permission to Meygen for the commencement of the "largest tidal energy project in Europe" and the developer announced the installation of a 9 MW demonstration turbine and then an 86 MW array tidal array. Commercial production commenced in November 2016 and MeyGen intend to develop the site up to its current grid capacity of 252 MW.

## Bioenergy

### Biofuel

Various small-scale biofuel experiments have been undertaken. For example, in 2021 British Airways flew a 35% aviation biofuel demonstration flight from London to Glasgow. Some say that sustainable aviation fuel (not necessarily biofuel) for the UK should be produced in Scotland due to the high share of renewable energy. Due to the relatively short growing season for sugar producing crops, ethanol is not commercially produced as a fuel.

### Biogas, anaerobic digestion and landfill gas

Biogas, or landfill gas, is a biofuel produced through the intermediary stage of anaerobic digestion consisting mainly of 45–90% biologically produced methane and carbon dioxide. In 2007 a thermophilic anaerobic digestion facility was commissioned in Stornoway in the Western Isles. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has established a digestate standard to facilitate the use of solid outputs from digesters on land.

It has been recognised that biogas (mainly methane) – produced from the anaerobic digestion of organic matter – is potentially a valuable and prolific feedstock. As of 2006, it is estimated that 0.4 GW of generating capacity might be available from agricultural waste. Landfill sites have the potential for a further 0.07 GW with sites such as the Avondale Landfill in Falkirk already utilising their potential.

### Solid biomass

A 2007 report concluded that wood fuel exceeded hydro-electric and wind as the largest potential source of renewable energy. Scotland's forests, which made up 60% of the UK resource base, were forecast to be able to provide up to 1 million tonnes of wood fuel per annum. The biomass energy supply was forecast to reach 450 MW or higher, (predominantly from wood), with power stations requiring 4,500–5,000 oven-dry tonnes per annum per megawatt of generating capacity. However a 2011 Forestry Commission and Scottish government follow-up report concluded that: "...there is no capacity to support further large scale electricity generation biomass plants from the domestic wood fibre resource." A plan to build in Edinburgh a 200 MW biomass plant which would have imported 83% of its wood, was withdrawn by Forth Energy in 2012 but the energy company E.ON has constructed a 44 MW biomass power station at Lockerbie using locally sourced crops. A 2007 article by Renew Scotland claimed that automatic wood pellet boilers could be as convenient to use as conventional central heating systems. These boilers might be cheaper to run and, by using locally produced wood fuel, could try to be as carbon neutral as possible by using little energy for transportation.

There is also local potential for energy crops such as short-rotation willow or poplar coppice, miscanthus energy grass, agricultural wastes such as straw and manure, and forestry residues. These crops could provide 0.8 GW of generating capacity.

### Incineration

There is a successful waste-to-energy incineration plant at Lerwick in Shetland which burns 22,000 tonnes (24,250 tons) of waste every year and provides district heating to more than 600 customers. Although such plants generate carbon emissions through the combustion of the biological material and plastic wastes (which derive from fossil fuels), they also reduce the damage done to the atmosphere from the creation of methane in landfill sites. This is a much more damaging greenhouse gas than the carbon dioxide the burning process produces, although other systems which do not involve district heating may have a similar carbon footprint to straightforward landfill degradation.

## Solar energy

Solar radiation has strong seasonality in Scotland as a result of its latitude. In 2015, solar PV contributed 0.2% to Scotland's final energy consumption. In a 100% renewable scenario for 2050, it is estimated that solar PV would provide 7% of electricity. The UK's practicable resource is estimated at 7.2 TWh per year.

Despite Scotland's relatively low level of sunshine hours, solar thermal panels can work effectively as they are capable of producing hot water even in cloudy weather. The technology was developed in the 1970s and is well-established with various installers in place; for example, AES Solar based in Forres provided the panels for the Scottish Parliament building.

## Geothermal energy

Geothermal energy is obtained from thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. The most common form of geothermal energy systems in Scotland provide heating through a ground source heat pump. These devices transfer energy from the thermal reservoir of the earth to the surface via shallow pipe works, utilising a heat exchanger. Ground source heat pumps generally achieve a Coefficient of performance of between 3–4, meaning for each unit of energy in, 3–4 units of useful heat energy is outputted. The carbon intensity of this energy is dependent on the carbon intensity of the electricity powering the pump.

Installation costs can vary from £7,000 to £10,000, and grants may be available from the CARES initiative operated by Local Energy Scotland. Up to 7.6 TWh of energy is available on an annual basis from this source.

Mine-water geothermal systems are also being explored, utilising the consistent ambient temperature of the earth to raise the temperature of water for heating by circulating it through unused mine tunes. The water will generally require further heating in order to reach a usable temperature. An example is the Glenalmond Street project in Shettleston, which uses a combination of solar and geothermal energy to heat 16 houses. Water in a coal mine 100 metres (328 ft) below ground level is heated by geothermal energy and maintained at a temperature of about 12 °C (54 °F) throughout the year. The warmed water is raised and passed through a heat pump, boosting the temperature to 55 °C (131 °F), and is then distributed to the houses providing heating to radiators.

There is also potential for geothermal energy production from decommissioned oil and gas fields.

## Complementary technologies

It is clear that if carbon emissions are to be reduced, a combination of increased production from renewables and decreased consumption of energy in general and fossil fuels in particular will be required. The Energy Technology Partnership provides a bridge between academic research in the energy sector and industry and aims to translate research into economic impact. Although also low-carbon, Torness – the only nuclear power station – is due to be closed in 2028 and no new nuclear power in Scotland built due to Scottish government opposition.

### Grid management

Demand patterns are changing with the emergence of electric vehicles and the need to decarbonise heat. The Scottish Government has investigated various scenarios for energy supply in 2050 and in one called "An Electric Future", "electrical energy storage is widely integrated across the whole system" and "the EV fleet operates as a vast distributed energy store, capable of supporting local and national energy balancing" and "better insulated buildings mean that domestic energy demand has fallen significantly."

In 2007 Scottish and Southern Energy plc in conjunction with the University of Strathclyde began the implementation of a "Regional Power Zone" in the Orkney archipelago. This ground-breaking scheme (that may be the first of its kind in the world) involves "active network management" that will make better use of the existing infrastructure and allow a further 15 MW of new 'non-firm generation' output from renewables onto the network.

In January 2009 the government announced the launch of a "Marine Spatial Plan" to map the potential of the Pentland Firth and Orkney coasts and agreed to take part in a working group examining options for an offshore grid to connect renewable energy projects in the North Sea to on-shore national grids. The potential for such a scheme has been described as including acting as a "30 GW battery for Europe's clean energy".

In August 2013 Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution connected a 2 MW lithium-ion battery at Kirkwall Power Station. This was the UK's first large-scale battery connected to a local electricity distribution network. There are other demand management initiatives being developed. For example, Sunamp, a company based in East Lothian, secured a £4.5 million investment in 2020 to develop its heat storage, which store energy that can then be used to heat water.

`A 50MW/100MWh battery is being built at Wishaw near Glasgow, and a 50 MW battery started in 2023.`

Much greater linkage to sell more electricity to England has been proposed, but this may not be viable if nodal electricity pricing is implemented in Britain. Norway has so far refused a Scotland-Norway interconnector.

### Carbon sequestration

Also known as carbon capture and storage, this technology involves the storage of carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) that is a by-product of industrial processes through its injection into oil fields. It is not a form of renewable energy production, but it may be a way to significantly reduce the effect of fossil fuels whilst renewables are commercialised. The technology has been successfully pioneered in Norway. No commercial-scale projects exist in Scotland as yet although in 2020 the UK government allocated 800 million pounds to attempt to create carbon sequestration clusters by 2030 aimed at capturing carbon dioxide emissions from heavy industry.

### Hydrogen

Although hydrogen offers significant potential as an alternative to hydrocarbons as a carrier of energy, neither hydrogen itself nor the associated fuel cell technologies are sources of energy in themselves. Nevertheless, the combination of renewable technologies and hydrogen is of considerable interest to those seeking alternatives to fossil fuels. There are a number of Scottish projects involved in this research, supported by the Scottish Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Association (SHFCA).

The PURE project on Unst in Shetland is a training and research centre that uses a combination of the ample supplies of wind power and fuel cells to create a wind hydrogen system. Two 15 kW turbines are attached to a 'Hypod' fuel cell, which in turn provides power for heating systems, the creation of stored liquid hydrogen and an innovative fuel-cell driven car. The project is community-owned and part of the Unst Partnership, the community's development trust.

In July 2008 the SHFCA announced plans for a "hydrogen corridor" from Aberdeen to Peterhead. The proposal involves running hydrogen-powered buses along the A 90 and is supported by Aberdeenshire Council and the Royal Mail. The economics and practical application of hydrogen vehicles are being investigated by the University of Glasgow, among others. In 2015 the city of Aberdeen became the site of the UK's first hydrogen production and bus refuelling station and the council and announced the purchase of a further 10 hydrogen buses in 2020. The "Hydrogen Office" in Methil aims to demonstrate the benefits of improved energy efficiency and renewable and hydrogen energy systems.

A status report on hydrogen production in Shetland, published in September 2020, stated that Shetland Islands Council (SIC) had "joined a number of organisations and projects to drive forward plans to establish hydrogen as a future energy source for the isles and beyond". For example, it was a member of the Scottish Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association (SHFCA). The Orion project, to create an energy hub planned to use clean electricity in the development of "new technologies such as blue and green hydrogen generation".

Hydrogen production through electrolysis was well underway in early 2021 in Orkney where clean energy sources (wind, waves, tides) were producing excess electricity that could be used to create hydrogen which could be stored until needed. In November 2019, a spokesperson for the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) made this comment: "We're now looking towards the development of a hydrogen economy in Orkney". In late 2020, a plan was made to test the world's first hydrogen-fueled ferry here. One report suggested that, "if all goes well, hydrogen ferries could be sailing between Orkney's islands within six months".

`By that time, a plan was underway at Kirkwall Airport to add a hydrogen combustion engine system to the heating system in order to reduce the significant emissions that were created with older technology that heated buildings and water. This was part of the plan formulated by the Scottish government for the Highlands and Islands "to become the world's first net zero aviation region by 2040".`

In December 2020 the Scottish government released a hydrogen policy statement with plans for incorporating blue and green hydrogen for use in heating, transportation and industry. The Scottish government also planned an investment of £100 million in the hydrogen sector "for the £180 million Emerging Energy Technologies Fund". Shetland Islands Council planned to obtain further specifics about the availability of funding. The government had already agreed that the production of "green" hydrogen from wind power near Sullom Voe Terminal was a valid plan. A December 2020 update stated that "the extensive terminal could also be used for direct refuelling of hydrogen-powered ships" and suggested that the fourth jetty at Sullom Voe "could be suitable for ammonia export".

## Local vs national concerns

A significant feature of Scotland's renewable potential is that the resources are largely distant from the main centres of population. This is by no means coincidental. The power of wind, wave and tide on the north and west coasts and for hydro in the mountains makes for dramatic scenery, but sometimes harsh living conditions.

This happenstance of geography and climate has created various tensions. There is clearly a significant difference between a renewable energy production facility of modest size providing an island community with all its energy needs, and an industrial-scale power station in the same location that is designed to export power to far distant urban locations. Thus, plans for one of the world's largest onshore windfarms on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis have generated considerable debate. A related issue is the high-voltage Beauly–Denny power line which brings electricity from renewable projects in the north and west to the cities of the south. The matter went to a public inquiry and has been described by Ian Johnston of The Scotsman as a "battle that pitches environmentalists against conservationists and giant energy companies against aristocratic landowners and clan chiefs". In January 2010 Jim Mather, the Energy Minister, announced that the project would be going ahead, notwithstanding the more than 18,000 objections received. 53 km of the 132kV line inside the park was taken down and not replaced. The Beauly–Denny line was energized by Christmas 2015.

There is considerable support for community-scale energy projects. For example, Alex Salmond, the then First Minister of Scotland, has stated that "we can think big by delivering small" and aspired to have a "million Scottish households with access to their own or community renewable generation within ten years". The John Muir Trust has also stated that "the best renewable energy options around wild land are small-scale, sensitively sited and adjacent to the communities directly benefiting from them", although even community-owned schemes can prove controversial.

A related issue is the position of Scotland within the United Kingdom. It has been alleged that UK transmission pricing structures are weighted against the development of renewables, a debate which highlights the contrast between the sparsely populated north of Scotland and the highly urbanised south and east of England. Although the ecological footprints of Scotland and England are similar the relationship between this footprint and the biocapacities of the respective countries are not. Scotland's biocapacity (a measure of the biologically productive area) is 4.52 global hectares (gha) per head, some 15% less than the current ecological effect. In other words, with a 15% reduction in consumption, the Scottish population could live within the productive capacity of the land to support them. However, the UK ecological footprint is more than three times the biocapacity, which is only 1.6 gha, amongst the lowest in Europe. Thus, to achieve the same end in the UK context, consumption would have to be reduced by about 66%.

The developed world's economy is very dependent on 'point-source' fossil fuels. Scotland, as a relatively sparsely populated country with significant renewable resources, is in a unique position to demonstrate how the transition to a low-carbon, widely distributed energy economy may be undertaken. A balance will need to be struck between supporting this transition and providing exports to the economies of densely populated regions in the Central Belt and elsewhere, as they seek their own solutions. The tension between local and national needs in the Scottish context may therefore also play out on the wider UK and European stage.

## Promotion of renewables

Growing national concerns regarding peak oil and climate change have driven the subject of renewable energy high up the political agenda. Various public bodies and public-private partnerships have been created to develop the potential. The Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland, (FREDS) is a partnership between industry, academia and government aimed at enabling Scotland to capitalise on its renewable energy resource. The Scottish Renewables Forum is an important intermediary organisation for the industry, hosting the annual Green Energy Awards. Community Energy Scotland provides advice, funding and finance for renewable energy projects developed by community groups. Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG) is a public-private partnership created to identify and promote renewable energy opportunities for businesses in the northeast. In 2009 AREG formed an alliance with North Scotland Industries Group to help promote the North of Scotland as an "international renewable energy hub".

The Forestry Commission is active in promoting biomass potential. The Climate Change Business Delivery Group aims to act as a way for businesses to share best practices and address the climate change challenge. Numerous universities are playing a role in supporting energy research under the Supergen programme, including fuel cell research at St Andrews, marine technologies at Edinburgh, distributed power systems at Strathclyde and biomass crops at the UHI Millennium Institute's Orkney College.

In 2010 the Scotcampus student Freshers' Festivals held in Edinburgh and Glasgow were powered entirely by renewable energy in a bid to raise awareness among young people.

In July 2009 Friends of the Earth, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, World Development Movement and World Wildlife Fund published a study called "The Power of Scotland Renewed." This study argued that the country could meet all its electricity needs by 2030 without the requirement for either nuclear or fossil fuel powered installations. In 2013, a YouGov energy survey concluded that:

> New YouGov research for Scottish Renewables shows Scots are twice as likely to favour wind power over nuclear or shale gas. More than six in ten (62%) people in Scotland say they would support large-scale wind projects in their local area, more than double the number who said they would be generally for shale gas (24%) and almost twice as much as nuclear (32%). Hydro power is the most popular energy source for large-scale projects in Scotland, with an overwhelming majority (80%) being in favour.

The Scottish Government's energy plans have called for 100% of electricity consumption to be generated through renewable sources and that by 2030 half of total energy consumption (including heat and transportation) will be met from renewables.

### Political landscape

Energy policy in Scotland is a "reserved" issue, i.e. responsibility for it lies with the UK government. Former First Minister of Scotland and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has accused them of having a "complete lack of vision and ambition over the energy technologies of the future" and compared this with her view that the Scottish Government is "already a world leader" in tackling the issue. During the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 Scotland's energy resources were a significant theme, and would likely be so again if there was another independence referendum. The Scottish Green Party are strongly supportive of "low carbon energy for all".

Scottish Labour (which is a section of the UK Labour Party) also supports what they call a "Green Industrial Revolution". The Scottish Conservatives' (who are a branch of the UK Conservative Party) party policy is to aim to "ensure 50 per cent of Scotland's energy comes from renewables by 2030". They are also supportive of additional nuclear energy production, which the SNP government oppose. The Scottish Liberal Democrats have a "commitment to 100% of Scottish electricity to be from renewable sources."

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) was held in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November 2021 under the presidency of the United Kingdom.

## See also

Global

- World energy consumption
- List of energy storage projects
- List of renewable energy topics by country
- Renewable energy development
- Hydrogen economy
- Renewable energy by country


1987 World Snooker Championship

The 1987 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1987 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purpose of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May 1987 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1986–87 snooker season. The championship was the 1987 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927, and had 32 participants. The highest ranked 16 players were awarded a place in the first round draw, whilst a pre-tournament qualification event for 104 professionals was held between 26 March and 4 April at the Preston Guild Hall for the remaining places. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy and had a prize fund of £400,000 with the winner receiving £80,000.

Since his 1986 victory, Joe Johnson had experienced a disappointing season leading up to the 1987 Championship, and bookmakers considered it unlikely that he would retain the title. Johnson did reach the final, a rematch of the previous year's final against Steve Davis. Davis won his fourth championship by defeating Johnson 18 to 14. A total of 18 century breaks were made during the tournament, the highest of which was 127 made by Davis in first frame of the final. Stephen Hendry, aged 18, became the youngest player to win a match in the tournament's history since it moved to the Crucible in 1977, whilst it was the last time that six-times champion Ray Reardon appeared.

## Overview

The World Snooker Championship is a professional tournament and the official world championship of the game of snooker. Founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India, the sport was popular in the British Isles. However, in the modern era it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

The 1987 championship featured 32 professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a single elimination format, each played over several . The 32 competitors in the main tournament were selected using a combination of the top players in the world snooker rankings and a pre-tournament qualification stage. The tournament was promoted by WPBSA Promotions, a subsidiary of professional snooker governing body the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, the final match being held in Camkin's Hall, Birmingham, England. Since 1977, the event has been held in the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

### Format

The championship was held from 18 April to 4 May 1987 at the Crucible, the 11th time that the tournament was held at the venue. It was the last ranking event of the 1986–87 snooker season on the World Snooker Tour. There were a total of 120 entrants from the tour, and the competition's main draw had 32 participants. A four-round knockout qualifying competition was held at Preston Guild Hall from 26 March to 4 April which produced the 16 qualifying players who progressed into the main draw to play the top 16 seeds.

The top 16 players in the latest world rankings automatically qualified for the main draw as seeded players. As defending champion, Joe Johnson was seeded first for the event; the remaining 15 seeds were allocated based on the players' world ranking positions. Matches in the first round of the main draw were played as best-of-19-frames, meaning 10 frames were required to win the match. The number of frames needed to win a match increased to 13 in the second round and quarter-finals, and 16 in the semi-finals; the final match was played as best-of-35-frames.

### Prize fund

The event featured a prize fund of £400,000 with the winner receiving £80,000. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:

- Winner: £80,000
- Runner-up: £48,000
- Semi-finals: £24,000
- Quarter-finals: £12,000
- Last 16: £6,000
- Last 32: £3,375
- Fourth qualifying round: £2,625
- Third qualifying round: £1,375
- Highest : £8,000
- Highest break in qualifying: £2,000
- Maximum break: £80,000
- Total: £400,000

## Tournament summary

The defending champion, Joe Johnson, had failed to reach as far as the quarter-finals of a major tournament in the 1986–87 snooker season after winning the 1986 World Championship. This record was described by The Sydney Morning Herald's Les Wheeler as "disappointing" and by Clive Everton as a "poor" season. Sydney Friskin of The Times reported that Johnson prepared for the Championship by practising diligently, and that the cyst on his back that previously troubled him had been removed. Johnson started the event as a bookmakers' outsider, priced at 66–1 against winning the tournament.

Leading up to the event, Neal Foulds had been the most successful player of the season, having gained the most ranking points during the season, ahead of Steve Davis. Twelve days before the start of the tournament, the two-times world champion Alex Higgins was fined £12,000 and given a six-month ban from tournaments by the WPBSA. The ban started on 5 May, the day after the final of the 1987 World Snooker Championship. The penalties resulted from a number of incidents, the most serious of which was headbutting Paul Hatherall, a WPBSA tournament director, at the 1986 UK Championship.

### Qualifying

There were four rounds of qualifying, with higher ranked players seeded into the later rounds, and 104 entrants. The 16 winners in the fourth round progressed to play the tournament's top 16 seeds at the Crucible. All qualifying matches were best-of-19 frames held over two . There were 24 matches scheduled in the first qualifying round, but Frank Jonik, Eddie McLaughlin, Sakchai Sim Ngam and Omprakesh Agrawal all withdrew, meaning that their opponents received walkovers. The 11-time pool world champion, Jim Rempe, made a of 104 in defeating Martin Smith 10–9. Veteran professional Bernard Bennett suffered the only whitewash of the first round, failing to win a frame against Billy Kelly.

In the second round, there were 32 matches. The youngest player in the competition, Stephen Hendry, made a break of 108 during his 10–7 defeat of Mike Darrington. Eight-times champion Fred Davis lost 5–10 to Ken Owers. Another former champion, John Spencer, who had won the title three times, eliminated Roger Bales 10–3. Trailing after the first session of his qualifying match 3–5, Jimmy van Rensberg was taken to hospital with a suspected heart attack. However, he was later discharged and went on to win 10–6.

The third round consisted of 16 matches between winners from the second round. Hendry led 8–1 against Rempe at the end of their first session, with Rempe winning three consecutive frames in their second session before Hendry won the match 10–4. Gino Rigitano conceded the 11th frame of his match against Steve Newbury when there were still enough balls on the table for him to win, and when 4–9 down decided not to play the next frame, thereby losing 4–10. There were two 10–0 whitewashes: by Jon Wright over Mark Wildman and by Tony Jones over van Rensberg.

The fourth round also featured 16 matches, with 16 players seeded into the round each meeting one of the third round winners. For the first time since turning professional, John Spencer failed to qualify for the event, as he was defeated 5–10 by Barry West. Bill Werbeniuk and Eddie Charlton also failed to qualify for the competition for the first time. Werbeniuk lost 8–10 to Mark Bennett and Charlton was defeated 4–10 by Warren King. The only match to go to a in round four was John Virgo's 10–9 win over Tony Jones. Dene O'Kane scored five century breaks across his three matches, a new record, including a 132. He received £2,000 for this break, the highest during qualifying.

### First round

The first round of the main tournament was held from 18 to 23 April with matches played as the best-of-19 frames over two sessions. Defending champion Joe Johnson played Eugene Hughes, with the match going to a deciding frame and Johnson winning 10–9. Steve Davis was 7–1 ahead of Warren King at the end of their first session, but King then won six of the next seven frames to reduce Davis's lead to one frame at 8–7. Davis narrowly won frame 16 with a break of 63, then completed a 10–7 victory in frame 17, where he successfully gained enough points from King, despite .

Murdo MacLeod defeated Rex Williams 10–5, despite Williams making the highest break of the first round, a 112. The win made MacLeod the first Scottish player to secure a victory at the Crucible Theatre. Stephen Hendry met veteran player Willie Thorne, led 5–4 at the end of their first session, and then took the first four frames in the second, before Thorne won three in a row. Hendry took the 17th frame to achieve a 10–7 win. At age 18 years and 97 days, Hendry became the youngest-ever player to win a world championship match at the Crucible. Steve Longworth led 5–4 after the first session of his match, and won five successive frames to defeat Kirk Stevens 10–5. Terry Griffiths also progressed from a 5–4 interval lead to a 10–4 win, against Jim Wych. Alex Higgins, due to start a six-month ban after the Championship, eliminated first-year professional Jon Wright 10–6.

Jimmy White led Dean Reynolds 5–4 at the end of their first session. Reynolds won the first two frames of the second session both on , before White went on to win 10–8. From 7–8, White made breaks of 70, 75 and 59 to win the three frames he needed to progress. O'Kane, 39th in the rankings, won nine frames in a row against second-ranked player Cliff Thorburn to win 10–5. Thorburn's split during the sixth frame and was not replaced until after the end of the first session. He was unable to win a frame after the tip was broken. Six-time champion Ray Reardon defeated debutant Barry West 10–5. Fourth seed Tony Knowles lost 6–10 to Mike Hallett, having led 6–5, and 11th seed Tony Meo lost 8–10 to John Parrott.

Silvino Francisco and John Campbell played only eight of their scheduled nine frames in the first session, due to slow play, with Francisco leading 5–3 when they started the following session. Francisco won five consecutive frames at the start of the second session to complete a 10–3 win. Doug Mountjoy led David Taylor 6–3 after their first session, and won 10–6. The 1985 champion Dennis Taylor led Bennett 8–1 before winning 10–4. Neal Foulds led John Virgo 7–2 after their first session and won 10–4.

### Second round

The second round was played from 23 to 27 April with matches as the best-of-25 frames held over three sessions. Johnson led MacLeod 6–2 and 10–6 after the first two sessions, winning 13–7. Hendry and Longworth were level at 4–4 after their first session, with Hendry then opening up a 7–4 lead with breaks of 96, 54 and 89, and finishing the second session 10–6 ahead after winning the 16th frame on a re-spotted black. Later trailing by six frames, Longworth won the 19th with a 103 break, before Hendry completed a 13–7 victory. Francisco and Hallett were at 8–8 after their second session before Hallett won three frames in a row, with breaks of 84, 47, 35 and 93. He also won the 20th frame, after requiring foul shots from Francisco, to lead 12–8, and clinched victory at 13–9 to reach his first world championship quarter-final. Foulds led Taylor 5–3 after their first session, and won the match 13–10.

O'Kane eliminated another top-16 player with a victory over Mountjoy. Mountjoy led 3–0, but O'Kane then won the next six frames, and won 13–5. White made a break of 114 in his match against Parrott, the highest in that year's championship to that point, and won 13–11. Five of the frames had been decided on the black, with White winning four of them. Higgins led Griffiths 6–3 after the first session but Griffiths won four frames in a row and the match was tied at 8–8. Griffiths went on to defeat Higgins 13–10. Six-times winner of the event Reardon led 3–1 but lost 12 of the next 13 frames as he was eliminated 4–13 by Davis. After the tournament, Reardon dropped out of the top 16 in the end-of-season world rankings, moving down from 15 to 38.

### Quarter-finals

The quarter-final matches were played over three sessions, in best-of-25 frames, on 28 and 29 April. Johnson led Hendry 8–1 and 12–8, before Hendry won four frames in a row to take the match to a deciding frame at 12–12. In the final frame, after Hendry failed to pot a , Johnson made a break of 46 to take the frame and match 13–12. Hallett compiled two century breaks in the first session of his match against Foulds, who also constructed a century break, with their first session ending at 4–4. Foulds then opened up a lead, leading 10–6 and 12–7 before winning at 13–9.

Davis was 4–3 ahead of Griffiths after their first session, and 10–5 ahead by the end of the second. He wrapped up a 13–5 win and with breaks of 62, 86 and 51 in three frames in the final session. It was the fifth time that Davis had defeated Griffiths at the world championship, and the largest winning margin of those encounters. White won all eight frames in the first session in his match against O'Kane, and after winning the first frame of the second session, led 9–0. O'Kane then won five consecutive frames, before White took four of the following five frames to win 13–6.

### Semi-finals

The semi-final matches were played as the best-of-31 frames, held over four sessions, from 30 April to 2 May. Johnson met Foulds in the first semi-final. The pair were tied at 3–3, but Foulds missed a pot on the in frame seven allowing Johnson to take a one-frame lead after the first session. In frame eight, Foulds made a break of 48 to win the frame, and won frame nine, despite requiring foul shots. Johnson made breaks of 47 in each of the next two frames to lead 6–5. Foulds took the next before Johnson, with his fourth break of 47 in four frames, took the lead again. Foulds won the last frame of the session with a break of 45 to leave them all square at 7–7 after two sessions, and made a break of 114 in the 15th frame to go one ahead before Johnson won seven frames in a row to lead 14–8. After this, Foulds won frame 23, but Johnson won the next two frames to win the match 16–9 to reach his second final.

Davis and White had been level at 4–4 after their first session, with Davis winning the first four of their second session to lead 8–4 and finishing that session 9–6 ahead. In the first frame of the third session, White was on course to make a maximum break, having potted ten reds and nine blacks, but missed the tenth black. After this, Davis required White to make foul shots in order to gain the necessary penalty points from them for Davis to win the frame. Aided by a black, and by a following a foul by White, Davis eventually won the frame by one point. John Hennessey in Pot Black magazine wrote that "at that moment White lost the chance of claiming his first world title," adding that White's father later said that losing the frame affected White badly during the following three. However, White later compiled a 119 break, the new highest in the competition, overtaking his earlier 114 in the second round, and ended the third session 9–13 behind. White took the first frame of the fourth session, but lost three of the following four frame as Davis won the match 16–11, concluding with a 74 break in the 27th frame.

### Final

The final was played as a best-of-35 frames match held over four sessions between Davis and Johnson on 3 and 4 May 1987. It was the first time that the same two players had met in the final at the Crucible for the second year in a row. The last time that two players had met in consecutive finals at the World Championship was when Fred Davis and John Pulman had both reached the final in 1955 and 1956, played at the Tower Circus, Blackpool. The next time it would happen was when Hendry and White met in three consecutive finals between 1992 and 1994. This was also the first time that the final had been contested by the top two seeds of the tournament. The final was refereed by Len Ganley, the second time he had taken charge of the world championship final.

In frame one, Davis compiled a 127 break, which remained the highest break of that year's tournament. Johnson responded winning three frames in a row followed by Davis taking two to level at 3-3. Johnson was 4–3 ahead at the end of the first session. Davis added three successive frames to lead 6–4 at the start of the second session, then Johnson won the 11th frame with a break of 101 before falling three behind as Davis won the next two frames. Johnson was behind in the 14th frame but won it with a break of 73. The last two frames of the session were both won with the aid of fluked reds: the 15th frame by Davis, and the last of the day by Johnson, the day finishing with Davis leading 9–7. On the second day, Johnson won the first frame of the third session to reduce Davis's lead to one frame. Davis then took four consecutive frames to lead 13–8, but missed the last red ball when on a break of 52. Johnson then cleared up to the black, which Davis would have required to level the scores in the frame. However, Davis left the black in a position that it could be potted from, and Johnson won the frame. Davis won the next frame, to lead 14–9 at the end of the third session.

Johnson made a break of 52 in the first frame of the fourth session, but failed on an attempt to pot a red, which gave Davis an opportunity. Davis then made a break of 35, but left an easy for Johnson, who cleared to the to win. In the next frame, Johnson made a break of 62, and then Davis attempted a , but missed the . Johnson potted the yellow from distance and cleared to the blue, with Davis then conceding the frame. Johnson led 50–0 in the next frame, and with both players making a number of errors Davis left him an easy brown that allowed Johnson in to win his fourth consecutive frame to move to one behind at 13–14. Davis had breaks of 64 and 40 to lead 15–13, a break of 73 to help make it 16–13, and 17–13 winning frame 30, decided on the final . Johnson won another frame, with a break of 67, before Davis clinched victory with a break of 73 to make it 18–14, achieving his fourth World Championship title. After the match, Davis said: "Winning this is better than 1981 because I've experienced getting beat in the final and its horrible."

## Aftermath

During the tournament, there were reports that Foulds and WPBSA chairman Williams were taking beta blockers. These were banned under International Olympic Committee rules, but not prohibited in snooker. Colin Moynihan, a Member of the British Parliament, called for Williams to resign and any players using beta blockers to withdraw from competing. In November 1987, the WPBSA was suspended from using the Sports Council's drug-testing facilities until the use of beta blockers was banned from the sport. Moynihan wrote to Williams supporting the ban that had been proposed by the Sports Council's Drug Advisory Group. Williams resigned as WPBSA chairman in November 1987, having received criticism over the drug testing issue as well as over his personal business connections with promoters Barry Hearn and Frank Warren. The WPBSA voted to ban the use of beta blockers, other than cardioselective types, in January 1988, with the ban to come into effect from the start of the 1988–89 snooker season.

## Main draw

Shown below are the results for the tournament. The numbers in brackets denote players seedings, whilst players in bold are match winners.

## Qualifying

Results from the qualification event are shown below. Players shown in bold denote match winners.

## Century breaks

There were 18 century breaks at the championship. The highest was a 127 made by Steve Davis in the first frame of the final. This was the lowest world championship high break since the event moved to the Crucible Theatre in 1977. The highest break in 1977 was 135 by John Spencer, which was the lowest to be the highest break at the world championship until 1986, when Davis's 134 was the highest.

- 127 – Steve Davis
- 119, 114 – Jimmy White
- 112 – Rex Williams
- 109, 106, 105, 102 – Neal Foulds
- 108, 102, 101 – Joe Johnson
- 105, 103 – Mike Hallett
- 103 – Stephen Hendry
- 103 – Steve Longworth
- 101 – John Virgo
- 100 – Tony Meo
- 100 – Ray Reardon

### Qualifying

There were 17 century breaks during the qualifying competition, the highest of which was 132 made by Dene O'Kane.

- 132, 130, 109, 101, 100 – Dene O'Kane
- 125 – Paul Medati
- 115 – John Parrott
- 110 – John Spencer
- 108, 105 – Stephen Hendry
- 108 – Mark Bennett
- 108 – Bill Oliver
- 107 – Joe O'Boye
- 105 – Jim Rempe
- 104 – John Campbell
- 100 – Graham Cripsey
- 100 – Gino Rigitano

Snooker tournament, held 1987

April 1987 sports events in the United Kingdom

May 1987 sports events in the United Kingdom


Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993) was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1965.

Anderson was an important figure in the struggle for African-American artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. In 1939, during the era of racial segregation, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. The incident placed Anderson in the spotlight of the international community on a level unusual for a classical musician. With the aid of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the Lincoln Memorial steps in the capital. The event was featured in a documentary film. She sang before an integrated crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions.

On January 7, 1955, Anderson became the first African-American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition, she worked as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United States Department of State, giving concerts all over the world. She participated in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Anderson was awarded the first Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, the Congressional Gold Medal in 1977, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the National Medal of Arts in 1986, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.

## Early life and education

Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia on February 27, 1897, to John Berkley Anderson (c. 1872–1910) and Annie Delilah Rucker (1874–1964). Her father sold ice and coal at the Reading Terminal in downtown Philadelphia and eventually also sold liquor. Before her marriage, Anderson's mother was briefly a student at the Virginia Seminary and College in Lynchburg, and worked as a schoolteacher in Virginia. As she did not obtain a degree, Annie Anderson was unable to teach in Philadelphia under a law that was applied only to black teachers and not white ones. She therefore earned an income caring for small children. Marian was the eldest of the three Anderson children. Her two sisters, Alyse (1899–1965) and Ethel (1902–90), also became singers. Ethel married James DePreist and their son James Anderson DePreist was a noted conductor.

Anderson's parents were both devout Christians and the whole family was active in the Union Baptist Church, which, during her youth, stood in a building constructed by the congregation in 1889 at 709 S. 12th Street in South Philadelphia. Marian's aunt Mary, her father's sister, was particularly active in the church's musical life and convinced her niece to join the junior church choir at the age of six. In that role, she got to perform solos and duets, often with her aunt. Aunt Mary took Marian to concerts at local churches, the YMCA, benefit concerts, and other community music events throughout the city. Anderson credited her aunt's influence as the reason she pursued her singing career. Beginning as young as six, her aunt arranged for Marian to sing for local functions where she was often paid 25 or 50 cents for singing a few songs. As she got into her early teens, Marian began to make as much as four or five dollars for singing, a considerable sum for the early 20th century. At the age of 10, Marian joined the People's Chorus of Philadelphia under the direction of singer Emma Azalia Hackley, where she was often a soloist.

When Anderson was 12, her father received a head injury while working at the Reading Terminal before Christmas 1909. Soon afterwards, her father died following heart failure. He was 37 years old. Marian and her family moved into the home of her father's parents, Benjamin and Isabella Anderson. Her grandfather had been born a slave and was emancipated in the 1860s. He relocated to South Philadelphia, the first person in his family to do so. When Anderson moved into his home, the two became very close, but he died just a year after the family moved there.

Anderson attended Stanton Grammar School, graduating in 1912. Although her family could not pay for any music lessons or high school, Anderson continued to perform wherever she could and learn from anyone willing to teach her. Throughout her teenage years, she remained active in her church's musical activities and was now involved heavily in the adult choir. She became a member of the Baptists' Young People's Union and the Camp Fire Girls, which provided her with some, though limited, musical opportunities. Eventually, the People's Chorus of Philadelphia and the pastor of her church, Reverend Wesley Parks, along with other leaders of the black community, raised the money she needed to get singing lessons with Mary Saunders Patterson and to attend South Philadelphia High School, from which she graduated in 1921.

After high school, Anderson applied to an all-white music school, the Philadelphia Musical Academy (now University of the Arts School of Music), but was turned away because she was black. The woman working the admissions counter replied, "We don't take colored" when she tried to apply. Undaunted, Anderson pursued studies privately in her native city through the continued support of the Philadelphia black community, first with Agnes Reifsnyder, then Giuseppe Boghetti. She met Boghetti through the principal of her high school. Anderson auditioned for him by singing "Deep River"; he was immediately brought to tears. Boghetti scheduled a recital of English, Russian, Italian and German music at The Town Hall in New York City in April 1924; it took place in an almost empty hall and received poor reviews.

In 1923 she made two recordings, "Deep River" and "My Way's Cloudy" for the Victor company.

## Early career

In 1925, Anderson got her first big break at a singing competition sponsored by the New York Philharmonic. As the winner, she got to perform in concert with the orchestra on August 26, 1925, a performance that scored immediate success with both the audience and music critics. Anderson continued her studies with Frank La Forge in New York. During this time, Arthur Judson became her manager. They met through the New York Philharmonic. Over the next several years, she made a number of concert appearances in the United States, but racial prejudice prevented her career from gaining momentum. Her first performance at Carnegie Hall was in 1928.

### Rosenwald Fund

During her fall 1929 concert schedule, Anderson sang at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, for which she received measured praise. Critic Herman Devries from the Chicago Evening American wrote, "[Anderson] reached near perfection in every requirement of vocal art—the tone was of superb timbre, the phrasing of utmost refinement, the style pure, discreet, musicianly. But after this there was a letdown, and we took away the impression of a talent still unripe, but certainly a talent of potential growth." In the audience were two representatives from Julius Rosenwald's philanthropic organization, the Rosenwald Fund. The organization's representatives, Ray Field and George Arthur, encouraged Anderson to apply for a Rosenwald Fellowship, from which she received \$1500 to study in Berlin.

### European tours

Anderson went to Europe, where she spent a number of months studying with Sara Charles-Cahier and Geni Sadero before launching a highly successful European singing tour. In the summer of 1930, she went to Scandinavia, where she met the Finnish pianist Kosti Vehanen, who became her regular accompanist and her vocal coach for many years. She also met Jean Sibelius through Vehanen after he had heard her in a concert in Helsinki. Moved by her performance, Sibelius invited them to his home and asked his wife to bring champagne in place of the traditional coffee. Sibelius complimented Anderson on her performance; he felt that she had been able to penetrate the Nordic soul. The two struck up an immediate friendship, which further blossomed into a professional partnership, and for many years Sibelius altered and composed songs for Anderson. He created a new arrangement of the song "Solitude" and dedicated it to Anderson in 1939. Originally The Jewish Girl's Song from his 1906 incidental music to Belshazzar's Feast, it later became the "Solitude" section of the orchestral suite derived from the incidental music.

In 1933, Anderson made her European debut in a concert at Wigmore Hall in London, where she was received enthusiastically. In the first years of the 1930s, she toured Europe, where she did not encounter the prejudices she had experienced in America. Anderson, accompanied by Vehanen, continued to tour throughout Europe during the mid-1930s. Before going back to Scandinavia, where fans had "Marian fever", she performed in Russia and the major cities of Eastern Europe. She became a favorite of many conductors and composers of major European orchestras quickly. During a 1935 tour in Salzburg, the conductor Arturo Toscanini told her she had a voice "heard once in a hundred years."

### American tours

In 1934, impresario Sol Hurok offered Anderson a better contract than she had with Arthur Judson previously. He became her manager and persuaded her to return to America to perform. In 1935, Anderson made her second recital appearance at The Town Hall, New York City, which received highly favorable reviews from music critics. She spent the next four years touring throughout the United States and Europe. She was offered opera roles by several European houses, but Anderson declined all of them due to her lack of acting experience. She did, however, record a number of arias in the studio, which became bestsellers.

Anderson's accomplishments as a singer did not make her immune to the Jim Crow laws in the 1930s. Although she gave approximately seventy recitals a year in the United States, Anderson was still turned away by some American hotels and restaurants. In the midst of this discrimination, Albert Einstein, a champion of racial tolerance, hosted Anderson on many occasions, the first being in 1937 when she was denied a hotel room while performing at Princeton University. Einstein's first hosting of Anderson became the subject of a play, "My Lord, What a Night," in 2021. She last stayed with him months before he died in 1955.

### 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert

In 1939, Sarah Corbin Robert, head of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) denied permission to Anderson for a concert on April 9 at DAR Constitution Hall under a white performers-only policy in effect at the time. In addition to the policy on performers, Washington, DC, was a segregated city, and Black patrons were upset that they would have to sit at the back of Constitution Hall. Furthermore, Constitution Hall did not have the segregated public bathrooms then required by DC law for such events. Other DC venues were not an option: for example, the District of Columbia Board of Education declined a request for the use of the auditorium of a white public high school.

The next day, Charles Edward Russell, a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and chair of the DC citywide Inter-Racial Committee, held a meeting of the Marian Anderson Citizens Committee (MACC). This included the National Negro Congress, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the American Federation of Labor, and the Washington Industrial Council-CIO, church leaders and activists in the city, and numerous other organizations. MACC elected Charles Hamilton Houston as its chairman and on February 20, the group picketed the Board of Education, collected signatures on petitions, and planned a mass protest at the next board meeting.

In the ensuing furor, thousands of DAR members, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned from the organization. Roosevelt wrote to the DAR: "I am in complete disagreement with the attitude taken in refusing Constitution Hall to a great artist ... You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed."

As the controversy grew, the American press overwhelmingly supported Anderson's right to sing. The Philadelphia Tribune wrote, "A group of tottering old ladies, who don't know the difference between patriotism and putridism, have compelled the gracious First Lady to apologize for their national rudeness." The Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote, "In these days of racial intolerance so crudely expressed in the Third Reich, an action such as the D.A.R.'s ban ... seems all the more deplorable."

At Eleanor Roosevelt's instigation, President Roosevelt and Walter White, then-executive secretary of the NAACP, and Anderson's manager, Sol Hurok, persuaded Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes to arrange an open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The concert was performed on Easter Sunday, April 9. Anderson was accompanied, as usual, by Vehanen. They began the performance with a dignified and stirring rendition of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." The event attracted a crowd of more than 75,000 in addition to a national radio audience of millions.

Two months later, in conjunction with the 30th NAACP conference in Richmond, Virginia, Eleanor Roosevelt gave a speech on national radio (NBC and CBS) and presented Anderson with the 1939 Spingarn Medal for distinguished achievement. In 2001, a documentary film of the concert was chosen for the National Film Registry, and in 2008, NBC radio coverage of the event was selected for the National Recording Registry.

## Mid-career

During World War II and the Korean War, Anderson entertained troops in hospitals and at bases. In 1943, she sang at the Constitution Hall, having been invited by the DAR to perform before an integrated audience as part of a benefit for the American Red Cross. She said of the event, "When I finally walked onto the stage of Constitution Hall, I felt no different than I had in other halls. There was no sense of triumph. I felt that it was a beautiful concert hall and I was very happy to sing there." In contrast, the District of Columbia Board of Education continued to bar her from using the high school auditorium in the District of Columbia.

### Ford 50th Anniversary Show

On June 15, 1953, Anderson headlined The Ford 50th Anniversary Show, which was broadcast live from New York City on both NBC and CBS. Midway through the program, she sang "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." She returned to close the program with her rendition of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." The program attracted an audience of 60 million viewers. Forty years after the broadcast, television critic Tom Shales recalled the broadcast as both "a landmark in television" and "a milestone in the cultural life of the '50s".

### The Metropolitan Opera

On January 7, 1955, Anderson became the first African-American to sing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. At the invitation of director Rudolf Bing, she sang the part of Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (opposite Zinka Milanov, then Herva Nelli, as Amelia). Anderson later said about the evening, "The curtain rose on the second scene and I was there on stage, mixing the witch's brew. I trembled, and when the audience applauded and applauded before I could sing a note, I felt myself tightening into a knot." Although she never appeared with the company again, Anderson was named a permanent member of the Metropolitan Opera company. The following year, her autobiography, My Lord, What a Morning, was published, and became a bestseller.

### Presidential inaugurations and goodwill ambassador tours

In 1957, she sang for President Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration, and toured India and the Far East as a goodwill ambassador through the U.S. State Department and the American National Theater and Academy. She traveled 35,000 miles (56,000 km) in 12 weeks, giving 24 concerts. After that, President Eisenhower appointed her a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The same year, she was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1958, she was officially designated a delegate to the United Nations, a formalization of her role as "goodwill ambassadress" of the U.S.

On January 20, 1961, she sang for President John F. Kennedy's inauguration, and in 1962 she performed for President Kennedy and other dignitaries in the East Room of the White House and toured Australia. She was active in supporting the civil rights movement during the 1960s. She performed benefit concerts in aid of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1963, she sang at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. That same year, she received one of the newly reinstituted Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is awarded for "especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interest of the United States, World Peace or cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." She also released an album, Snoopycat: The Adventures of Marian Anderson's Cat Snoopy, which included short stories and songs about her beloved black cat. That same year, Anderson concluded her farewell tour, after which she retired from public performance. The international tour began at Constitution Hall on Saturday October 24, 1964, and ended on April 18, 1965, at Carnegie Hall. In 1965, she christened the nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine USS George Washington Carver.

## Later life

Although Anderson retired from singing in 1965, she continued to appear publicly. She often narrated Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait, with her nephew James DePriest conducting. In 1976, Copland conducted a performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Saratoga. Her achievements were recognized with many honors, including the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit in 1973; the United Nations Peace Prize, New York City's Handel Medallion, and the Congressional Gold Medal, all in 1977; Kennedy Center Honors in 1978; the George Peabody Medal in 1981; the National Medal of Arts in 1986; and a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991. A half-ounce gold commemorative medal was embossed with her portrait by the United States Treasury Department in 1980. Four years later, she was the first person to be honored with the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award of the City of New York. She was awarded 24 honorary doctoral degrees, by Howard University, Temple University, Smith College and many other colleges and universities.

## Personal life

On July 17, 1943, Anderson became the second wife of architect Orpheus H. "King" Fisher (1900–1986) in Bethel, Connecticut. Fisher had asked her to marry him when they were teenagers, but she declined at that time because she feared it would have forestalled her music career. The wedding was a private ceremony performed by United Methodist pastor Rev. Jack Grenfell and was the subject of a short story titled "The 'Inside' Story," written by Rev. Grenfell's wife, Dr. Clarine Coffin Grenfell, in her book Women My Husband Married, including Marian Anderson. According to Dr. Grenfell, the wedding was originally supposed to take place in the parsonage, but because of a bake sale on the lawn of the Bethel United Methodist Church, the ceremony was moved at the last minute to the Elmwood Chapel, on the site of the Elmwood Cemetery in Bethel, in order to keep the event private.

By this marriage she gained a stepson, James Fisher, from her husband's previous marriage to Ida Gould, a white woman.

In 1940, seeking a retreat away from the public eye, Anderson and Fisher purchased a three-story Victorian farmhouse on a 100-acre (0.40 km<sup>2</sup>) farm in Danbury, Connecticut, after an exhaustive search throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Through the years, he built many structures on the property, including an acoustic rehearsal studio he designed for his wife. The property remained Anderson's home for almost 50 years.

From 1943, she resided at the farm that Orpheus had named Marianna Farm. The farm was on Joe's Hill Road, in the Mill Plain section of western Danbury. She constructed a three-bedroom ranch house as a residence, and she used a separate one-room structure as her studio. In 1996, the farm was named one of 60 sites on the Connecticut Freedom Trail. The studio was moved to downtown Danbury as the Marian Anderson studio.

As a town resident, Anderson wished to live as normally as possible, declining offers to be treated in restaurants and stores as a celebrity. She was known to visit the Danbury State Fair and sang at the city hall on the occasion of the lighting of Christmas ornaments. She gave a concert at the Danbury High School, served on the board of the Danbury Music Center, and supported the Charles Ives Center for the Arts and the Danbury Chapter of the NAACP.

In 1986, Orpheus Fisher died after 43 years of marriage. Anderson remained in residence at Marianna Farm until 1992, one year before her death. Although the property was sold to developers, various preservationists as well as the City of Danbury fought to protect Anderson's studio. Their efforts proved successful, and the Danbury Museum and Historical Society received a grant from the state of Connecticut, relocated and restored the structure, and opened it to the public in 2004. In addition to seeing the studio, visitors can see photographs and memorabilia from milestones in Anderson's career.

In 1992, Anderson relocated to the home of her nephew, conductor James DePreist, in Portland, Oregon. She died there on April 8, 1993, of congestive heart failure, at the age of 96. She is interred at Eden Cemetery, in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.

## Awards and honors

- 1939: NAACP Spingarn Medal
- 1963: Presidential Medal of Freedom
- 1973: University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit
- 1973: National Women's Hall of Fame
- 1977: United Nations Peace Prize
- 1977: New York City – Handel Medallion
- 1977: Congressional Gold Medal
- 1978: Kennedy Center Honors
- 1980: United States Treasury Department gold commemorative medal
- 1984: Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award of the City of New York
- 1986: National Medal of Arts
- 1991: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
- Honorary doctorate from Howard University, Temple University, Smith College

## Legacy

The life and art of Anderson has been commemorated by writers, artists, and city, state, and national organizations. The following is a selected list:

- She was an example and an inspiration to both Leontyne Price and Jessye Norman.
- 1948: The anthology radio drama Destination Freedom recapped her earlier life in the episode "Choir Girl from Philadelphia".
- 1976: Among the historical figures featured in the artwork Our Nation's 200th Birthday, The Telephone's 100th Birthday by Stanley Meltzoff for Bell System.
- 1999: A one-act musical play entitled My Lord, What a Morning: The Marian Anderson Story was produced by the Kennedy Center. The musical took its title from Anderson's memoir, published by Viking in 1956.
- 2001: The 1939 documentary film, Marian Anderson: The Lincoln Memorial Concert was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
- 2002: Molefi Kete Asante included Anderson in his book,100 Greatest African Americans.
- 2005: U.S. postage stamp honored Anderson as part of the Black Heritage series. Anderson is also pictured on the US\$5,000 Series I United States Savings Bond.
- 2008: A BBC Radio 4 documentary, Freedom Song produced by Ekene Akalawu, was first broadcast on January 24, 2008.
- 2011: The Marian Anderson House, in Philadelphia, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
- 2016: The Union Baptist Church (Built 1915–16), 1910 Fitzwater Street, Philadelphia, PA, was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, under Criteria A and J, the former being for its association with Marian Anderson, providing regulatory protection to the building from alteration and demolition.
- 2016: Jack Lew announced that Anderson would appear along with Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. on the back of the redesigned US\$5 bill scheduled to be unveiled in the year 2020, the 100th anniversary of 19th Amendment of the Constitution that granted women in America the right to vote.
- 2021: Anderson's life and the 1939 Constitution Hall controversy and her subsequent concert at the Lincoln Memorial were the subject of a documentary, Voice of Freedom, that aired as an episode of American Experience on PBS.
- London, United Kingdom, has a pub called The Marian Anderson, on Bowling Green Lane, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 0BJ.

## Marian Anderson Award

The Marian Anderson Award was established in 1943 by Anderson after she was awarded the \$25,000 from The Philadelphia Award in 1940 by the city of Philadelphia. Anderson used the award money to establish a singing competition to help support young singers. The prize fund was exhausted in due course and disbanded in 1976. In 1990, the award was re-established and has dispensed \$25,000 annually. In 1998, the Marian Anderson Award prize money was restructured to be given to an established artist, not necessarily a singer, who exhibits leadership in a humanitarian area.

## See also

- List of African-American firsts
- List of rallies and protest marches in Washington, D.C.
- Marian Anderson House

## Biographical entries

- FemBio, "Marian Anderson"
- Hamilton, David. (1987). The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the World of Opera. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo: Simon and Schuster, p. 22. .
- Hamilton, Mary. (1990). A–Z of Opera. New York, Oxford, Sydney: Facts On File, p. 17. .
- Carlton Higginbotham, "Biography of Marian Anderson"
- Kennedy Center, "Biography of Marian Anderson"
- Rosenthal, Harold and John Warrack (1979, 2nd ed.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. London, New York and Melbourne: Oxford University Press, p. 11. .
- Sadie, Stanley and Christina Bashford (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 1, p. 123. .
- Sadie, Stanley and John Tyrrell. (2001).The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 1, p. 615. .
- Virtual Museum of History, "Marian Anderson"
- Warrack, John and Ewan West (1996). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press, p. 13. .

## Selected discography

- Marian Anderson on Discography of American Historical Recordings
- Marian Anderson: Biography and Bach Cantatas Recordings on Bach Cantatas

African-American contralto (1897–1993)

20th-century African-American women singers

20th-century American women opera singers

Burials at Eden Cemetery (Collingdale, Pennsylvania)

EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists

Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners

Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients