ScottishPower Renewables has received planning consent from The Scottish Government for all 22 wind turbines at Ewe Hill in the South of Scotland. This follows-on from a planning decision in 2010 to grant permission for six of these turbines at the site, and completes a 13 year development process for the project.
Construction of the windfarm will commence in 2015, and the full 22 turbine project will have a nominal capacity of 51 megawatts (MW).
Located 15km from Lockerbie, the Ewe Hill project was one the first in the UK that ScottishPower Renewables considered for a windfarm development. Initial studies commenced in 2001, and the first planning application was submitted in March 2004.
Early plans were scaled back due to a low flying objection from the MoD, and subsequently the company has been working with NATS En Route (NERL) for several years to agree a suitable mitigation to ensure the continued integrity of their air traffic systems. Beyond this, project teams have worked closely with Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and The Scottish Government for a number of years.
Simon Christian, UK Managing Director, ScottishPower Renewables said: “Ewe Hill has always had the potential to be a significant renewable energy project. When we first considered Ewe Hill we had only just completed our first windfarm project in Scotland, but since this time we have grown to become one of the largest renewable energy developers in the UK. After a lot of hard work and significant effort right across our company for many years, we are delighted to see this consent come through from The Scottish Government.
“We have overcome a variety of obstacles, negotiating on a wide range of technical and environmental considerations, and our development team have shown themselves to be one of the most experienced, resilient and technically astute teams in the industry. We look forward to starting construction at Ewe Hill, and seeing the project make an important contribution to Scotland’s green energy targets.”
ScottishPower Renewables currently has approximately 1,420MW of onshore wind generation capacity in the UK, including the most recent project, the 136MW Harestanes windfarm in Dumfries and Galloway.
This year is also expected to see the completion of the 389MW, £1.6 billion, West of Duddon Sands offshore windfarm. This project is being developed jointly with DONG Energy, and is located in the Irish Sea, south west of Barrow-in-Furness.
Media Information: ScottishPower Press Office, 0141 614 4660