Wind farm pressure on grid

PROPOSALS for another massive wind farm in Scotland have sparked fresh fears that the National Grid will be unable to cope with the volume of new applications.

The Scotsman can reveal that ScottishPower wants to build a 180-turbine wind farm near Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway, which the company says could generate enough electricity to power 250,000 homes.

If approved, Harestanes and Ae Forest wind farm could meet one-third of the Scottish Executive renewable energy target of 18 per cent by 2010.

However, industry sources voiced concerns that the National Grid electricity distribution system may not be able to cope if all the current wind farm proposals were approved. There are 17 wind farms currently operating in Scotland, but in excess of 100 further proposals.

This week the Scottish Executive granted approval to a significant 40 million development at Cairn Uish, Speyside.

The Speyside scheme - and plans by TXU to site the largest off-shore wind farm in Europe at Robin Rigg, in the Solway Firth - have both caused great controversy.

Last night an electricity generating source told The Scotsman: "There will need to be significant investment in the Scottish network to allow both Scotland and the UK to hit its renewable targets."

Without an upgrade to the National Grid system, the source warned, further development of renewable energy in Scotland was likely to run into trouble.

ScottishPower said it selected the Harestanes site following an extensive search to evaluate the best locations for new windfarms. It said it was one of only a few sites capable of accommodating large-scale wind energy generation with good wind resources.

The company, which is the UK’s biggest wind farm developer, is already engaged in consultations with landowners and planning authorities to discuss the scope of the new proposal.

Alan Mortimer, head of wind power development at ScottishPower, said: "Harestanes is the third in our series of large windfarms and, as such, is a very important element of our plans to expand renewable energy production."

However, John Duffy, the vice-chairman of the anti-windfarm campaign group Views of Scotland, questioned the need for the vast number of proposed sites in Scotland.

He said: "If this site alone will supply enough energy to meet one-third of the renewable target, then it surely begs the question why are we not seeing an application for just three wind farms in Scotland.

"We are getting a raft of these applications across the country. There appears to be a complete lack of co-ordination and this industry is driven by one motive only, which is profit and has nothing to do with meeting renewable targets."

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: "We are currently considering responses to our consultation on proposals to increase energy consumption from renewable resources to 40 per cent by 2020. Our consultation paper acknowledged that it will be necessary to significantly strengthen the grid if we are to accommodate this increase in renewables capacity."

A spokesman for Friends of the Earth Scotland said: "This proposal could make a considerable contribution towards Scotland’s target of increasing the proportion of energy it produces from renewable sources. However, it is absolutely essential that schemes benefit local communities and do not damage the natural heritage."