The largest onshore wind farm in Europe has been given the go-ahead. The Whitelee Wind Farm will consist of 140 wind turbines and 322 megawatts (MW) of capacity, and will be constructed south of Glasgow, Scotland. ScottishPower is the developer of the plant, which will produce enough energy to meet over two percent of Scotland’s annual electricity requirements.
“Whitelee is the largest single onshore wind farm to be consented in Europe and is a significant milestone towards achieving our renewable energy and climate change targets,” said Allan Wilson, Deputy Enterprise Minister. “We are strongly committed to the continued development of a diverse renewable energy portfolio in this country and there are many more proposed projects in the pipeline, including biomass, wave and hydro power.”
Scotland’s Renewables target is for 18 percent of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2010 and 40 percent by 2020.
“We are already well on target to surpass the 2010 target and this single development equates to over five percent of the capacity needed to hit our 2020 target,” he said.
The plant will cover 11.5 km east to west and 7 km from north to south — 55 km2 in total. The project will should be completed in 2009.