Applications for 700 MW in Scotland

The wind rush in Scotland continues apace as three developers lodge consent applications with the Scottish Executive totalling over 700 MW of capacity. Airtricity has applied to build a 500 MW wind farm of 173 turbines in the Upper Clyde Valley, South Lanarkshire. If consented, the £480 million Clyde wind farm will create over 270 jobs in construction and 23 full time jobs once operational, says Airtricity. Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) hopes to build a 130 MW project comprising 40 turbines at Waterhead Moor in North Ayrshire. And E.ON UK plans a 74 MW wind farm of 27 turbines at Afton Reservoir, next to npower's existing Windy Standard wind farm. Although the smallest of the three projects, E.ON points out it would be the company's largest onshore wind farm. The large size of the proposed wind farms reflects the general increase in size of UK developments. The projects, together with AMEC's two recent consent applications (page 32), means that applications to build some 1700 MW of wind were submitted in the space of less than two weeks -- all of which is in Scotland.