Overview
- Scottish Power announced on Wednesday that it has submitted an initial application to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit to repower the Whitelee onshore windfarm.
- Under the proposal the current ~214 turbines would be cut to about 124 while installed capacity would rise from 533MW to over 1GW, a change the company says could supply roughly 650,000 homes.
- The new machines would be much larger than today's models, with reported blade-tip heights of about 240 metres, and the company says work would be delivered in phased stages to keep the visitor centre open.
- Scottish Power put an estimated cost for the project at about £1.5 billion and said a full planning application will follow by the end of next year with commissioning aimed around 2035; the announcement came alongside half-year results showing EBITDA up 17% to £1.7 billion.
- The repower is presented as a way to extend the site’s life and boost home-grown clean power, but it will face environmental and visual-impact scrutiny, local consultation and formal regulatory approvals before construction can proceed.