ScottishPower Renewables has been given permission to develop a second extension at Whitelee Windfarm near Glasgow, which will see Europe’s largest onshore wind farm add a further 39 turbines.
Whitelee will have overall capacity of up to 593MW, which is claimed to be enough energy to power more than 330,000 homes.
The initial 140 turbines at Whitelee were completed in May 2009. Planning permission was then granted for the first extension of 36 turbines. The completion of both extensions will see the wind farm hosting 215 turbines across an area of approximately 80km2.
The planning application for the second extension was submitted to the Scottish government on 29 May 2009. Construction on both extensions will be carried out at the same time, starting in 2010, with completion expected in 2012. It is anticipated that construction will create up to 200 jobs.
Keith Anderson, managing director of ScottishPower Renewables, said: ‘In the week that delegates from across the world are discussing global climate change issues in Copenhagen, it is fitting that Europe’s largest onshore wind farm at Whitelee has been given permission to expand further.
‘In total, the electricity generated at Whitelee will have the equivalent of displacing between 570,000 and 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 a year.’
The second extension is located to the south west of the current Whitelee site, located to the north of the Irvine Valley and north east of Kilmarnock. All of the turbines are located within the boundary of East Ayrshire council.
It sounds rather impressive when you say that Whitelee will have enough energy to power 330,000 homes.
Actually, it will have enough energy to provide the ELECTRICAL power to 330,000 homes. Unfortunately, each home also needs another 8 times as much energy to cover heating, transport, food, etc. and this highlights the problem with wind power – with 30% of electricity eventually supplied by wind power, it will only address 1/8 x 30% = 3.75% of the total energy we use. What low/zero carbon energy source is going to cover the remaining 96.3 %?
On this, Ed Milliband is silent.
Since there is a visitor centre at the wind farm, it is essential, with all that land taken up for an average output of about 180MW, to show land use between the turbines. They should graze sheep or cattle to sell the idea that land is not wasted.
It is essential to be aware, that when the wind blows, standard power stations, which have base carbon emitting costs, become less efficient, cost effective and create higher CO2 per kWh generated as they have to de-rate.
Ah yes, Ed Milliband has been mentioning nuclear power. Sadly, he seems to have no concept of the scale of the problem.
At present, 10 nuclear power stations generate about 12.5% of UK electricity, or 1.56% of all our energy use. The government plan seems to be to build 10 new stations where the existing ones are. Perhaps they will have a larger capacity and generate another 2% of our total energy requirements.
Other low carbon sources such as tides, waves, solar voltaic, bacteria, are either only available at present in minute quantities, and, in the case of fusion power, always just around the corner.
It STILL leaves 94.3% of our total energy use unaccounted for. What is going to fill the gap? Why is no-one talking about this elephant in the room?