Most northerly of the four parts of the United Kingdom

Resources and power
Mining and power generation account for less than one-tenth of Scotland’s annual GDP. Until the last decade of the 20th century, Scotland’s chief mineral resource was coal. The industry reached a peak annual production of 43 million tons in 1913 but subsequently declined drastically. In particular, deep mining became largely uneconomical, and Scotland’s last remaining deep-pit coal mine was closed in 2002. Other minerals that have been worked intermittently include gold, silver, chromite, diatomite, and dolomite, but none has been successfully exploited. Although peat is available to a depth of 2 feet (0.6 metre) or more and is spread over some 2,650 square miles (6,880 square km), its economic value is limited. It is still burned for fuel in the Highlands, but its use has decreased because of the time and labour involved in cutting and drying it.

port of Aberdeen, Scotland
Britain’s North Sea petroleum and natural gas resources began to be developed in the 1970s. The oil fields lie mostly in Scottish waters, but the British government holds their ownership and receives the revenue yield. Large companies have located and extracted the resource, mostly with the aid of American technology. Aberdeen is the centre of the petroleum industry, and the economy of Shetland has also benefited from discoveries in adjacent waters. In addition, natural gas from North Sea wells has replaced manufactured gas in Scotland. Tens of thousands of jobs have been created in Scotland by onshore oil- and gas-related enterprises, such as oil-platform construction and the servicing of North Sea operators. Although the newfound prosperity has been subject to the vagaries of international markets—especially after fossil fuel revenues were severely reduced in the mid-1980s—the petroleum industry continues to provide, directly and indirectly, a great number of jobs in Scotland.
Water is also a valuable resource, especially for generating electricity, and several dams and power stations have been built since the mid-20th century. Coal and oil each fuel about one-fourth of Scotland’s electric power stations, and nuclear generation, notably via the station at Torness, east of Edinburgh, accounts for about one-third. Almost one-fifth of Scotland’s electricity is generated by renewable resources, and in the early 21st century there was an aggressive push to develop greater renewable capacity. Scotland was at the forefront of research on wave and tidal energy, and it was a global leader in the development and construction of deep-sea offshore wind farms.