Wind power in Scotland
Encyclopedia
Wind power in Scotland is the country's fastest growing renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...

 technology, with 2574 MW of installed capacity as of April 2011. The Robin Rigg Wind Farm
Robin Rigg Wind Farm
Robin Rigg Wind Farm, Scotland's first offshore wind farm, has been constructed by E.ON at Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth, a sandbank midway between the Galloway and Cumbrian coasts. The windfarm first generated power for test purposes on 9 September 2009...

 is a 180 MW development completed in April 2010, which is Scotland's first offshore wind farm, sited on a sandbank in the Solway Firth
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...

.
The United Kingdom's largest wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...

 (322 MW) is at Whitelee
Whitelee Wind Farm
Whitelee Wind Farm is the largest wind farm in Europe, with 140 Siemens wind turbines and a total capacity of 322 megawatts . Whitelee was developed and is operated by ScottishPower Renewables, which is part of the Spanish company Iberdrola. Whitelee Wind Farm has a 75 turbine extension under...

 in East Renfrewshire
East Renfrewshire
East Renfrewshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975 it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas of Renfrewshire and Inverclyde...

, which has a 217 MW extension under construction, set for completion in 2012. The Clyde Wind Farm
Clyde Wind Farm
The Clyde Wind Farm is a 548 megawatt wind farm under construction near Abington in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. When completed, it will be Europe's largest onshore wind farm...

 is a 548 megawatt (MW) wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...

 under construction near Abington
Abington, South Lanarkshire
Abington is a village in the Scottish council region of South Lanarkshire,close to the M74 motorway, marking the point where it changes name to the A74, following the upgrade of the former A74 road. The West Coast Main Line between Glasgow and London also emerges from the Clyde Valley at this...

 in South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages....

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, which will be Europe's largest onshore wind farm when completed. Two very large offshore wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...

s (5 MW each) are located in the Moray Firth
Moray Firth
The Moray Firth is a roughly triangular inlet of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotland...

. There are many other large onshore wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...

s including some, both planned and operating, which are in community ownership. The siting of turbines is sometimes an issue, but surveys have shown high levels of community acceptance for wind power in Scotland. There is further potential for expansion, especially offshore given the high average wind speeds, and a number of large offshore wind farms are planned.

The Scottish Government has a target of generating 31% of Scotland's electricity from renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...

 by 2011, and 100% by 2020, which was raised from 50% in September 2010. The majority of this is likely to come from wind power.

Current offshore wind turbines

Scotland's first offshore wind turbine was placed near the Beatrice Oil Field, 15 miles off the east coast in the Moray Firth, North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

, in August 2006. This was the world's largest wind turbine at the time, an REpower
REpower
REpower is a German wind turbine company founded in 2001, purchased December 2009 by Suzlon Energy Ltd. Its product range comprises several types of turbines with rated outputs of between 1.5 and 6 megawatts. It created the 5M, in 2005....

 5M, with a maximum output of 5MW. A second identical turbine joined it and the wind farm began supplying electricity in August 2007. As of February 2010, Beatrice Wind Farm
Beatrice Wind Farm
The Beatrice Wind Farm is a wind farm close to the Beatrice oil field in the Moray Firth, part of the North Sea off the east coast of Scotland.-Evaluation project:...

 is the deepest and northernmost offshore wind installation in the world.

This was the first time such large offshore wind turbines had been tested, and the first time any wind turbine generators have been assembled in such deep (44 metres) water. Such large wind turbine generators are ideally suited to the offshore environment due to high consistent wind speeds and minimal turbulence. According to historical measures of wind speeds at the Beatrice offshore location, it is expected that the turbines will run 96% of the time (8440 hours per year), and at 10 MW full power 38% of the time (3300 hours per year).

Black Law Wind Farm

The 54-turbine Black Law Wind Farm
Black Law Wind Farm
The 42-turbine Black Law Wind Farm has a total capacity of 97 megawatts , sufficient to meet the average electricity needs of 70,000 homes each year - or a town the size of Paisley - and is estimated to save around 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year.The £90 million wind farm is...

 has a total capacity of 124 MW. It is located near Forth in Lanarkshire and was built on old opencast coalmine site, with an original capacity of 97 MW from 42 turbines. It employs seven permanent staff on site and created 200 jobs during construction. A second phase saw the installation of a further 12 turbines. The project has received wide recognition for its contribution to environmental objectives. Over the period April 2009 to March 2010, Black Law Wind Farm produced 19.19% of its rated capacity.

Braes of Doune Wind Farm

The Braes of Doune Wind Farm opened in 2007 and is located close to Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...

. The wind farm has 36 Vestas
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines. It is the largest in the world, but due to very rapid growth of its competitors, its market share decreased from 28% in 2007 to 12.5% in 2009...

 2 megawatt wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...

 turbine
Turbine
A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...

s. The farm was built and is run by Airtricity
Airtricity
Airtricity was founded in 1997 in the Republic of Ireland and now is a renewable energy company owned by Scottish and Southern Energy...

.

Farr Wind Farm

Farr Wind Farm
Farr Wind Farm
Farr Wind Farm is located some 10 miles south of Inverness in Scotland, to the south-east of the Farr area, and to the west of off the A9 road. It comprises 40 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 92 megawatts...

 is located some 10 miles south of Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...

, and comprises 40 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 92 MW. Every year the wind farm generates enough clean electricity to meet the average annual needs of some 54,000 homes.

Hadyard Hill Wind Farm

Hadyard Hill Wind Farm
Hadyard Hill Wind Farm
Hadyard Hill Wind Farm is located in Carrick district of South Ayrshire. Costing £85 million, the wind farm consists of 52 three-bladed Danish wind turbines, each capable of generating 2.3 megawatts of power, giving a total output of 120 MW...

, owned and operated by Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), became the first wind farm in the UK able to generate over 100 MW of power. The 120 MW, 52-turbine wind farm in South Ayrshire cost £85 million and in a year generates enough electricity to power 80,000 homes, sufficient to supply every household in a city the size of York. The production of zero carbon electricity at the wind farm is expected to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by almost 300,000 tonnes a year, equivalent to taking 70,000 cars off the road.

Robin Rigg Wind Farm

The Robin Rigg Wind Farm
Robin Rigg Wind Farm
Robin Rigg Wind Farm, Scotland's first offshore wind farm, has been constructed by E.ON at Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth, a sandbank midway between the Galloway and Cumbrian coasts. The windfarm first generated power for test purposes on 9 September 2009...

 is a 180 MW development completed in April 2010, which is Scotland's first offshore wind farm, sited at Robin Rigg, a sandbank midway between the Galloway
Galloway
Galloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...

 and Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

n coasts in the Solway Firth
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...

. It has 60 Vestas V90-3MW
Vestas V90-3MW
The Vestas V90-3MW is a three bladed upwind wind turbine generator that uses pitch control and a doubly fed induction generator...

 wind turbines.

Whitelee Wind Farm

The 322 MW Whitelee Wind Farm
Whitelee Wind Farm
Whitelee Wind Farm is the largest wind farm in Europe, with 140 Siemens wind turbines and a total capacity of 322 megawatts . Whitelee was developed and is operated by ScottishPower Renewables, which is part of the Spanish company Iberdrola. Whitelee Wind Farm has a 75 turbine extension under...

 was completed ahead of schedule in May 2009. It is Europe's largest onshore wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...

, built by Scottish Power Renewables. The wind farm uses 140 Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...

 2.3-MW wind turbines.

Whitelee Wind Farm has a 75 turbine extension under construction, which will add an additional 217 MW of capacity. Work on this extension is set for completion in 2012.

Clyde Wind Farm

The Clyde Wind Farm
Clyde Wind Farm
The Clyde Wind Farm is a 548 megawatt wind farm under construction near Abington in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. When completed, it will be Europe's largest onshore wind farm...

 is a 548 megawatt (MW) wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...

 under construction near Abington
Abington, South Lanarkshire
Abington is a village in the Scottish council region of South Lanarkshire,close to the M74 motorway, marking the point where it changes name to the A74, following the upgrade of the former A74 road. The West Coast Main Line between Glasgow and London also emerges from the Clyde Valley at this...

 in South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages....

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. When completed, it will be Europe's largest onshore wind farm. The 152-turbine project by Scottish and Southern Energy, which was approved by the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...

 in July 2008, capable of powering 320,000 homes, and will be larger than the 322 MW Whitelee Wind Farm
Whitelee Wind Farm
Whitelee Wind Farm is the largest wind farm in Europe, with 140 Siemens wind turbines and a total capacity of 322 megawatts . Whitelee was developed and is operated by ScottishPower Renewables, which is part of the Spanish company Iberdrola. Whitelee Wind Farm has a 75 turbine extension under...

 near Glasgow. Turbines will be built either side of the M74 motorway
M74 motorway
The A74 and M74 motorways form a major motorway in Scotland. Following an extension opened on 28 June 2011, it connects the M8 motorway west of Glasgow to the English border at Gretna, creating an alternative route for traffic moving from the south to the west of the city...

. Construction of the wind farm, which is budgeted for £600 million, started in early 2009 and expected to finish in 2012.

Offshore wind farms

In January 2010 contracts were awarded for a major expansion of offshore wind power in the seas around Scotland. Moray Offshore Renewables will develop offshore wind power in the Moray Firth
Moray Firth
The Moray Firth is a roughly triangular inlet of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotland...

, and SeaGreen Wind Energy will develop offshore wind in the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...

. These developments could lead to 1,000 new wind turbines generating nearly 5,000 MW of power. Jobs "could also be created in manufacturing, research, engineering, installation, operation and services".

Wind variability

Most turbines in the European Union produce electricity at an average of 25% of their rated maximum power due to the variability of wind resources, but Scotland's wind regime provides average capacity factor
Capacity factor
The net capacity factor or load factor of a power plant is the ratio of the actual output of a power plant over a period of time and its potential output if it had operated at full nameplate capacity the entire time...

 of 40% or higher on the west and northern coasts. A small wind farm on Shetland with five Vestas
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines. It is the largest in the world, but due to very rapid growth of its competitors, its market share decreased from 28% in 2007 to 12.5% in 2009...

 V47 660 kW turbines recently achieved a world record of 58% capacity over the course of a year. This record is claimed by Burradale windfarm, located just a few miles outside Lerwick and operated by Shetland Aerogenerators Ltd. Since opening in 2000, the turbines at this wind farm have had an average capacity factor of 52% and, according to this report, in 2005 averaged a world record 57.9%.

A 2011 report authored by wind farm critic Stuart Young and supported by the John Muir Trust
John Muir Trust
The John Muir Trust is a Scottish charity established as a membership organisation in 1983 to conserve wild land and wild places for the benefit of all...

, said that Scotland’s wind farms are only delivering a fraction of the power their builders claim. The report looked at wind farm output over a 26 month period between November 2008 to December 2010 using data from the industry’s Balancing Mechanism Reporting System. The report concluded that wind power "cannot be relied upon to provide significant levels of power" and "that there is an urgent need to re-evaluate the use of the energy source in future". There was an "angry response" to the report from the energy industry, and the body representing Scotland’s renewable energy refused to recognise the figures. Jenny Hogan, Director of Policy for Scottish Renewables, said: "We have no confidence in these unofficial figures", and added: "It could be argued the Trust is acting irresponsibly given their expertise lies in protecting our wild lands and yet they seem to be going to great lengths to undermine renewable energy which is widely recognised as one of the biggest solutions to tackling climate change". An independent study investigated the JMT report by cross-referencing Renewable Obligation Certificates over the same study period and concluded that wind farms performed much better due to data problems with the BMReports website upon which the JMT Report was based.

Aesthetics and landscape issues

Siting of some wind turbines has become an issue amongst those concerned about the value of natural landscapes. The John Muir Trust
John Muir Trust
The John Muir Trust is a Scottish charity established as a membership organisation in 1983 to conserve wild land and wild places for the benefit of all...

 has stated that "the best renewable energy options around wild land are small-scale, sensitively sited and adjacent to the communities directly benefiting from them", although even community-owned schemes can prove controversial. For example, a small-scale scheme proposed by North Harris Development Trust
Development trust
Development Trusts are organisations which operate in the United Kingdom that are:*community based, owned and led*engaged in the economic, environmental and social regeneration of a defined area or community...

 has been supported by the John Muir Trust.

The Ardrossan Wind Farm
Ardrossan Wind Farm
The 24 megawatt Ardrossan Wind Farm in Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, Scotland was officially opened on August 10, 2004. The Vestas factory in Argyll, which now employs more than 200 people, has supplied the wind turbines for the Airtricity development...

 on the west coast of Scotland has been "overwhelmingly accepted by local people". Instead of spoiling the landscape, they believe it has enhanced the area: "The turbines are impressive looking, bring a calming effect to the town and, contrary to the belief that they would be noisy, we have found them to be silent workhorses".

Community ownership

Community-owned schemes in Scotland include a three V27 wind turbine system near the manufacturer Vestas's Scottish base in Kintyre
Kintyre
Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The region stretches approximately 30 miles , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south, to East Loch Tarbert in the north...

, operated by Gigha Renewable Energy Ltd.
Gigha
The Isle of Gigha is a small island off the west coast of Kintyre in Scotland. The island forms part of Argyll and Bute and has a population of about 150 people, many of whom speak Scottish Gaelic. The climate is mild with higher than average sunshine hours and the soils are fertile.Gigha has a...

 which is capable of generating up to 675 kW of power. Gigha residents control the whole project and profits are reinvested in the community.

Findhorn Ecovillage
Findhorn Ecovillage
Findhorn Ecovillage is an experimental architectural community project based at The Park, in Moray, Scotland, near the village of Findhorn. The project's main aim is to demonstrate a sustainable development in environmental, social, and economic terms...

 has four Vestas wind turbines which can generate up to 750kW. These make the community net exporters of renewably generated electricity. Most of the generation is used on-site with any surplus exported to the National Grid.

Boyndie Wind Farm Co-operative is part of the Energy4All group, which promotes community ownership. A number of other schemes supported by Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company
Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company
Community Energy Scotland is an independent Scottish charity established in 2008 that provides advice and financial support for renewable energy projects developed by community groups in Scotland...

 are in the pipeline.

Public opinion

A 2003 survey of residents living around Scotland's 10 existing wind farms found high levels of community acceptance and strong support for wind power, with much support from those who lived closest to the wind farms. The results of this survey support those of an earlier Scottish Executive survey 'Public attitudes to the Environment in Scotland 2002', which found that the Scottish public would prefer the majority of their electricity to come from renewables, and which rated wind power as the cleanest source of renewable energy.

Beauly-Denny

A proposed 400kV upgrade to the existing 132 kV transmission network, seen as key to future expansion has been held up in planning for three years. There has been vocal opposition from some sectors and strong support from other sectors. The proposed 220km circuit is to run from Beauly
Beauly
Beauly is a town of the Scottish county of Inverness-shire, on the River Beauly, 10 miles west of Inverness by the Far North railway line. Its population was 855 in 1901...

, west of Inverness to Denny
Denny, Falkirk
Denny is a town in the Falkirk council area of Scotland, formerly in the county of Stirlingshire. It is situated west of Falkirk, and north-east of Cumbernauld, adjacent to both the M80 and M876 motorways...

, west of Falkirk
Falkirk
Falkirk is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Forth Valley, almost midway between the two most populous cities of Scotland; north-west of Edinburgh and north-east of Glasgow....

.

In 2008, the first major independent study associated with the Scottish Government’s renewable energy targets concluded that the upgrade of the Beauly-Denny power line will be a key to future development.

In January 2010, the Scottish Government approved the upgrade to the Beauly to Denny transmission line.

Potential

It is estimated that 11.5 GW of onshore wind potential exists, enough to provide 45 TWh of energy. More than double this amount exists on offshore sites where mean wind speeds are greater than on land. The total offshore potential is estimated at 25 GW, and although more expensive to install could be enough to provide almost half the total energy used in Scotland.

According to a recent report, the world's wind market offers many opportunities for Scottish companies, with total global revenue over the next five years estimated at £35 billion and continued growth forecast until at least 2025.

See also

  • James Blyth (engineer)
    James Blyth (engineer)
    Professor James Blyth MA, LLD, FRSE , was a Scottish electrical engineer and academic at Anderson's College, now the University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow...

  • Energy policy of the United Kingdom
    Energy policy of the United Kingdom
    The current energy policy of the United Kingdom is set out in the Energy White Paper of May 2007 and Low Carbon Transition Plan of July 2009, building on previous work including the 2003 Energy White Paper and the Energy Review Report in 2006...

  • Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
    Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
    Energy use in the United Kingdom stood at 3,894.6 kilogrammes of oil equivalent per capita in 2005 compared to a world average of 1,778.0. In 2008, total energy consumed was 9.85 exajoules - around 2% of the estimated 474 EJ worldwide total...

  • List of power stations in Scotland
  • Renewable energy in Scotland
    Renewable energy in Scotland
    The production of renewable energy in Scotland is an issue that has come to the fore in technical, economic, and political terms during the opening years of the 21st century. The natural resource base for renewables is extraordinary by European, and even global standards...

  • Renewable energy in the European Union
    Renewable energy in the European Union
    The countries of the European Union are currently the number two global leaders in the development and application of renewable energy. Promoting the use of renewable energy sources is important both to the reduction of the EU's dependence on foreign energy imports, and in meeting targets to combat...

  • RenewableUK
  • Scottish Renewables
    Scottish Renewables
    Scottish Renewables has been the representative body of the Scottish renewable energy industry since 1996, presenting a united voice to decision makers who make energy policy. Scottish Renewables represents over 300 members and member organisations are wide ranging across all technologies and...

  • Wind power in the United Kingdom
    Wind power in the United Kingdom
    By mid-2011, the installed capacity of wind power in the United Kingdom was over 5.7 gigawatts and the UK is ranked as the world’s eighth largest producer of wind power. Wind power is expected to continue growing in the UK for the foreseeable future, RenewableUK estimates that more than...

  • Wind turbines (UK domestic)
    Wind turbines (UK domestic)
    Small wind turbines intended for installation on an individual home have been on the market in the United Kingdom for many years, but their popularity and public awareness is now increasing substantially....


External links

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