Eaglesham Moor, Scottland – 20th May 2009
Finally, after a decade of planning and construction, Europe’s largest onshore wind farm on Eaglesham Moor, Scotland, is finally complete and had been opened by Scottland’s First Minister Alex Salmond this morning, Wednesday 20th May 2009.
Salmond announced that the Scottish Government had now given permission for the £300 million Whitelee Windfarm in East Renfrewshire to be extended further. The extension will create about 300 new jobs and will dramatically increase the amount of electricity the farm can generate. The announcement of the site’s extension came when Mr Salmond carried out the switch-on, finally connecting the turbines there to the Scottish national grid.
The site currently has 140 turbines and is capable of generating 322 megawatts of energy – more than enough to power 180,000 average households. The extension project includes the installation of further 36 turbines bringing the total power capacity to 452 megawatts – enough to power 250,000 Scottish households.
During the construction of Whitelee Windfarm, the site had employed more than 500 people and contributed £300 million directly into the Scottish economy. Salmond’s plans are for half of all Scotland’s electricity to come from green sources by 2020. “The Scottish government is committed to taking full advantage of our 25% share in Europe’s wave and wind power capacity,” he said. “We are determined to get rid of harmful emissions from our environment while capitalising on the vast economic opportunities our natural advantage in renewable energy poses.”
A truly impressive achievement by the Scottish Government which in our opinion should be followed suit across Europe and all other countries with high fossil fuel consumption rates.
