UK - Green light for Europe's largest wind farm

The go ahead for Europe’s largest wind farm has been announced today by Allan Wilson MSP, Deputy Minister for Enterprise & Lifelong Learning at the Scottish Executive: ScottishPower's application for the Whitelee wind farm project, south of Glasgow, has been given planning consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. When built, Whitelee will have a capacity to generate 322 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power nearly every home in Glasgow, and will provide over 11% of the 2010 Scottish Executive’s renewable energy target (18% of all electricity generation in Scotland), and 2.4% of the UK wide target for 10% of electricity generation from renewables by 2010. Marcus Rand, Chief Executive of the British Wind Energy Association commented, “This fantastic news is a further sign that onshore wind is delivering and should give confidence to the Government to commit to expanding the role of wind and renewables in the ongoing Energy Review. Wind, both on and offshore, represents our best chance of delivering significant quantities of carbon free power by 2015 and this project will be an essential part of that delivery.”

Maf Smith, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables today said, “This is a tremendous boost for Scottish renewables industry, and a shot in the arm for Scotland’s economy and environment. This development alone will provide jobs, generate affordable clean green electricity on a scale hitherto unheard of in Scotland or indeed the UK and Europe, and take a big step forward in reducing Scotland’s harmful carbon emissions. The Scottish Executive today is making a bit of history and we welcome their decision which will in turn ensure that Scotland’s renewable energy industry is well able to deliver on its targets ahead of schedule. “The scale of this project is a reminder of why ScottishPower were awarded a Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development only last week. They have worked with several local councils and aviation authorities to bring this development to fruition. This just goes to show how when the determination is there, we can develop large-scale wind projects close to centres of population. The central belt is doing its bit in the drive to make Scotland, the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy.”