Work has been completed at SSE’s Dunmaglass Wind Farm to connect its turbines to the National Grid so that it is ‘energised’ and therefore capable of providing power from next week.
Located approximately 25km south of Inverness, the 33 turbine site is SSE’s highest wind farm at 700m above sea level, with an installed capacity of 94.05MW.
There are 32 turbines currently under construction at Dunmaglass , 26 fully erected and six at mid tower stage, with one still to start. Some testing and commissioning work to ensure that the turbines are generating properly can also now take place.
Paul Cooley, SSE Director of Generation Development, hailed the important project milestone.
He said: “It is fantastic news that we have manged to energise Dunmaglass Wind Farm this week and that’s down to a big push from all involved on the site and the professionalism of the project team. We are very pleased to be in this position with the site now capable of providing electricity.”
Turbine delivery to Dunmaglass Wind Farm began in May this year and thanks to favourable Scottish weather work on the site has proceeded smoothly. The site is expected to be fully operational in early 2017.
Because of its geographical position Dunmaglass is ideally located to benefit from the strong winds in the area but the potential for adverse weather makes it one of the more challenging projects in terms of construction. Fortunately a relatively benign Scottish summer means the project build has been progressing well.