One of Europe's largest onshore wind farms, Whitelee Windfarm near Glasgow, will be rebuilt. Its owner plans to replace the existing turbines with fewer, but much larger, ones.
Whitelee has been generating electricity for about 20 years. It is now nearing the end of its operational life.
A Major Upgrade for Whitelee
Scottish Power Renewables announced that the current 215 turbines will be replaced in three stages. The new plan calls for about 124 turbines. Each new turbine will stand about 110 meters (361 feet) taller than the old ones.
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Start Your News DetoxThis "repowering" project will cost £1.5 billion and take 10 years to finish. It is expected to double the wind farm's electricity output. The output will increase from 539 megawatts to 1 gigawatt. This is enough power for about 650,000 homes.
An application has been sent to the Scottish government's energy consents unit. The full planning application should be submitted by the end of next year. The upgraded wind farm is expected to be fully running by 2035.
Whitelee was first opened in 2009 by then-First Minister Alex Salmond. At that time, it was Europe's largest onshore wind farm. It started with 140 turbines and has since expanded twice.
Charlie Jordan, CEO of Scottish Power Renewables, said the company is planning for when the turbines reach their natural end. He noted the importance of keeping clean energy capacity as older facilities age.
Keeping Whitelee Accessible
Whitelee Windfarm is built on Eaglesham Moor. It has footpaths and tracks for walkers and a visitor center. The site covers about 83 square kilometers (32 square miles), nearly half the size of nearby Glasgow. It is a popular spot for dog walkers.
Scottish Power said its three-phase approach means the site can stay open to the public during the rebuild.
This is not the first wind farm to be upgraded this way. Hagshaw Hill in South Lanarkshire replaced its 26 turbines with 14 larger ones last year. However, Whitelee will be the largest wind farm to have all its turbines replaced. The company plans to recycle 99% of the old turbines.
Analysts at Regen predict that over half of Great Britain's current wind farm capacity will reach the end of its life in the next decade. This means more wind farms will likely be repowered, creating new construction jobs. The work at Whitelee is expected to bring about £330 million to the Scottish economy.
