Over seventy countries around the world are making use of Scotland's renewable energy expertise, according to findings from Scottish Renewables.

The industry body found that Scotland had exported a mix of green energy services, expertise and physical products to 72 countries across the world.

The leading destination for these renewable exports was the USA. Of the fifteen Scottish businesses that spoke with Scottish Renewables, nine were exporting to the USA.

In second place was Canada, followed by Germany and Sweden and Ireland in joint third place. 

Other countries in the renewables export list included Fiji, Angola, Singapore, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan.

Over 57% of renewable energy firms with HQs in Scotland replied to a survey which asked whether they were exporting to new markets. Around a third said that they were planning to do so.

Exporting firms included Green Cat Renewables, based in South Lanarkshire. The green energy consultancy opened an overseas office in Canada's state of Alberta in 2017.

Smarter Grid Solutions, based in Glasgow, was exporting its grid integration technology to the US, Canada and Germany.

The CEO of Scottish Renewables, Claire Mack, said that the country was stretching its own targets for green energy and that the quality of its engineering skills meant that the world was watching for its lead in the green space.

She added that the country's engineering skills in the green energy space was heavily in demand from Taiwan to Canada, whilst knowledge of technical aspects, planning and environmentalism was being used in Norway, Nigeria and other countries.

Scotland's green energy industry turned over more than £5.5 billion in 2017 and employed nearly 18,000 people.

The Energy Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, said that Scotland's power businesses were in demand across the world and that the survey results demonstrated their premium value.