Europe’s largest onshore wind farm switched on and ready to grow

At the official ‘switching on’ ceremony today, Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond, confirmed that Scottish Power’s application to extend the 140-turbine, 322 megawatts (MW) wind farm to produce another 130 MW of electricity has been approved by the Scottish Government.

The initial 140 turbines, situated across a 55 km2 site, are expected to produce enough power for more than 180,000 homes, reducing CO2 emissions by 500,000 tonnes a year. The planned extension of Whitelee will provide power for an additional 70,000 homes and has the potential to create up to 300 green collar jobs.

As well as the construction of the 140 turbines, the first phase of the project, which cost some £300 million to complete and employed more than 500 workers, has involved the connection of more than 970 km of cables to link the turbines to the national grid and the creation of a 90 km ‘floating’ road network – laid so as not to break the surface of peat-land areas and disrupt the flow of natural water courses. A £2 million state-of-the-art visitor centre is also in the process of being completed.

Switching on one of the final turbines at Whitelee today, Scottish Power’s chairman, Ignacio Galán said: Whitelee is a milestone in the history of Scotland, not only representing the largest wind farm in Europe, but also one of the largest in the world [...] The excellent location of Whitelee has always meant that it would be possible to extend the wind farm, and we are delighted that the Scottish Government has approved our plans to do so.”

Salmond added:"Whitelee in its current form is already flying the flag for onshore wind power in Europe. The planned extension, which I am delighted to announce today, will enable the wind farm to harness its comparative and competitive advantage in wind generated energy within Europe. It has the infrastructure, the expertise and the capacity to continue to develop in the future."

Scottish Power has confirmed that, having received approval to extend the wind farm, it is now looking into a possible second extension to add a further 140 MW, which would mean a total capacity of near 600 MW. An official planning application is expected to submitted for this later this summer.

In total, the Scottish Government says there is now almost six gigawatts (GW) of renewables capacity installed, consented or under construction around Scotland. That takes Scotland beyond its interim target of meeting 31 per cent of its electricity demand from renewables by 2011, and on course to hit its main target of 50 per cent from renewables by 2020.

The First Minister is clearly proud of what has been achieved so far, but expects even greater things from Scottish renewables in the future: "Our potential for electricity generation from renewables is up to 60 GW – more than 10 times our peak demand. We have launched the world's greatest single prize for innovation in marine energy, the £10 million Saltire Prize; we are developing and applying clean fossil fuel technology; we have an unrivalled competitive advantage in carbon capture and storage; we have approved Siadar, one of the largest wave energy projects on the planet; as well as developing and consenting hydro and biomass projects. Harnessing all these opportunities has the potential to create more than 16,000 jobs in Scotland over the next decade.”

This 16,000 jobs figure comes from a report published last week as part of evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee's energy inquiry. It showed that renewables already account for at least 3,000 jobs in Scotland and estimated that around 10,000 jobs will accrue to Scotland with the development and deployment of clean fossil fuels and carbon capture and storage.

As well as attending the Whitelee opening today, Alex Salmond also announced  that Duncan Botting, head of ITI Energy, will chair the Scottish European Green Energy Centre. The Scottish Government claims that this is a unique body which will act as a focal point for Scottish engagement in Europe to further green energy research, development and deployment.

Explaining the role of the Centre, Energy Minister Jim Mather said:"Our ambition is to shape European energy policy. The Scottish European Green Energy Centre will put Scotland at the heart of European research, development and deployment of low carbon energy technologies, such as carbon capture and marine energy.