The Clyde Wind Farm is a 522
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
(MW)
wind farm
A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...
near
Abington in
South Lanarkshire,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
.
Planning
The first stage of the project consists of 152-turbines by
Scottish and Southern Energy and was approved by the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
in July 2008. It is capable of powering 200,000 homes. SSE was given planning permission to build a wind farm with turbines built on either side of the
M74 motorway.
Construction
Construction of the wind farm, which was budgeted for £600 million, began in early 2009 and finished in 2012. Welcon Towers Ltd won the contract to supply the towers for all 152 turbines for the £600 million Clyde Wind Farm. Jesper Øhlenschlæger, chief executive officer of Welcon Towers parent company Skykon, said: "The Clyde project is a very important business win for our Campbeltown manufacturing. Scotland has become the most positive and the most interesting renewable wind power market in Europe. The Clyde Wind Farm project represents a landmark phase in Scotland’s renewable energy strategy."
The first stage of the farm was opened at a ceremonial ribbon cutting by
First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond in September 2012. Its original capacity was 349.6 MW.
Extension
In July 2014 it was announced that Scottish ministers had approved an extension to the Clyde Wind Farm.
The extension will see 54 extra turbines, capable of generating an additional 162 MW. This will bring the total generating capacity of the wind farm to 512 MW.
The extension has been upgraded to 54 turbines with a 173 MW capacity and was commissioned in the summer of 2017.
See also
*
Wind power in Scotland
*
List of onshore wind farms in the United Kingdom
This is a list of some onshore wind farms (more than one turbine) in the UK. This information is gathered from multiple Internet sources, primarily the UK Wind Energy Database from RenewableUK (formerly BWEA) and The Wind Power's database. The ...
*
List of offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom
References
External links
SSE Clyde Project websiteMap of the Clyde Wind Farm
{{Wind power in the United Kingdom
Wind farms in Scotland
Buildings and structures in South Lanarkshire