The Clyde wind farm is located between Biggar and Moffat. It became part of Scottish and Southern Energy’s (SSE) development portfolio when it acquired Airtricity in early 2008. The Scottish ministers’ decision to award consent follows a public inquiry into the development, which was concluded in 2006.
As a result of the decision, SSE now has almost 1,500MW of onshore wind farm capacity in operation, in construction or with consent for development in the UK and Ireland, which compares with 875MW when the agreement to acquire Airtricity was announced in January 2008.
The wind farm will eventually have up to 152 turbines and construction work is expected to begin later in fiscal 2008. First commissioning is scheduled for 2010 and completion of both phases scheduled for 2011. Its development is expected to require the investment of around GBP600 million, which is included within SSE’s existing plans to invest GBP2.5 billion in renewable energy in the UK and Ireland over the next five years.
It is estimated that around half of the total investment of around GBP300 million will be placed with Scottish companies and over 200 full time jobs will be created during the three-year construction period. Discussions have been held with the South Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire to maximize local supplier involvement in the construction and ongoing maintenance of the wind farm.
