The Scottish Government has approved plans for the £300 million Whitelee Windfarm in East Renfrewshire to be extended, announcing its decision as its turbines were officially switched on for the first time.
First minister Alex Salmond said the site, which has 140 turbines and is Europe’s largest onshore wind farm, would be allowed to have a further 36 turbines installed.
The extension would take the total power generation of the farm from 322 megawatts to 452 megawatts – enough to power 250,000 homes.
Mr Salmond made the announcement of the site’s extension when he carried out the switch-on, connecting the turbines there to the national grid.
As well as the physical construction of the turbines, the project has also included the construction of a 90 km “floating” road network – made of stone constructed on layers of geogrid so as to not break the surface of the land or disrupt natural water courses – and the connection of over 970 km of cables to link the turbines to the national grid.
A £2 million state-of-the-art visitor centre is also being built.
At its peak, more than 500 people were working on-site and more than 1.82 million working hours have been spent constructing the windfarm.
The extension would take the total power generation of the farm from 322 megawatts to 452 megawatts – enough to power 250,000 homes.
Mr Salmond made the announcement of the site’s extension when he carried out the switch-on, connecting the turbines there to the national grid.
As well as the physical construction of the turbines, the project has also included the construction of a 90 km “floating” road network – made of stone constructed on layers of geogrid so as to not break the surface of the land or disrupt natural water courses – and the connection of over 970 km of cables to link the turbines to the national grid.
A £2 million state-of-the-art visitor centre is also being built.
At its peak, more than 500 people were working on-site and more than 1.82 million working hours have been spent constructing the windfarm.
Source: The New Civil Engineer
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