Green light for Europe's largest onshore wind farm
Monday, 21 Jul 2008 14:57
Europe's largest wind farm is to be built in Scotland
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Europe's largest wind farm is to be built at a site in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, it was announced today.
The 152-turbine wind farm will be built in clusters on either side of the M74 motorway and should provide enough electricity to power up to 320,000 homes.
It will also bring £600 million of investment and is expected to create 200 jobs during construction, the Scottish government said.
When fully operational it will employ about 30 staff.
First minister Alex Salmond claimed the wind farm will help to make Scotland "the green energy capital of Europe".
"The Clyde wind farm will represent a very important step in the development of renewable energy in Scotland and in meeting shared European targets," he added.
"The Scottish government has an ambitious target to generate 31 per cent of Scotland's electricity demand from renewable sources by 2011 and 50 per cent by 2020.
"Today's announcement makes it virtually certain that the 2011 target will be met early and exceeded by the end of this parliamentary term and represents a significant milestone on the way to achieving the 2020 target."
The Scottish government's Energy Consents Unit is currently processing 36 renewable project applications - 26 wind farm, nine hyrdro and one wave project.