New wind farms approved

25 Jul 2014 02:52 PM

Communities to benefit from over £28 million boost.

Consent has been granted for two wind farms that will power over 100,000 homes and deliver community benefits of over £28 million.

An extension to the existing Clyde wind farm, located to the east of Abington, will generate up to an additional 171MW, enough to power more than 76,000 homes. This will bring the total generating capacity of the wind farm to 512MW.

The Clyde wind farm extension will produce carbon savings estimated at 189,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, and contribute around £20 million in community benefits over its 25 year operating period, in addition to the £33 million offered for the existing wind farm.

At the same time, an application to build the Dersalloch wind farm, in South Ayrshire, has also been approved. It has a maximum generating capacity of 69MW, enough to power the equivalent of around 32,500 homes, and will produce carbon savings estimated between 70,175 and 88,369 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Dersalloch wind farm will create approximately 120 temporary jobs during construction and deliver a community benefits package worth more than £8.5 million over its 25 year operational period.

Mr Ewing said:

“These two wind farms will create jobs both in their construction, and during their lifetime. Once they are up and running, the wind farms will save thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, and will be able to produce enough electricity to power thousands of homes.

“The Dersalloch wind farm and the Clyde Extension will create around £28.8 million during its lifetime – a remarkable amount for the local communities.

“As well as bringing benefits to the local community, the Clyde Extension will also benefit the wider region through the provision of a Local Community Fund.

“The community packages that have been offered by both these developers will bring considerable benefits to the local communities.

“Scotland is already providing over a third of the UK’s renewable electricity generation and helping to keep the lights on across our islands at a time where there is an increasingly tight gap between electricity supply and demand.”