Onshore Wind

Introduction

Scotland is one of the windiest countries in Europe, and its no surprise that the Highlands and Islands have Britain’s most sustained wind regimes for turbines. The Burradale wind farm in Shetland (opened in 2000, its one of Scotlands older projects) has the world record for the highest capacity of a windfarm (58% in 2005).

Generating Capacity

Nearly 500 onshore wind turbines are currently operating in the Highlands and Islands. Overall Scotland has an installed capacity of nearly 6GW of onshore wind, that (along with Hydro) delivers over 50% of our electricity demand. The Scottish Government has a target of 100% of our electricity demand to be delivered by renewables by 2020, and onshore wind plays a significant role in delivering that target.

Interestingly, for a few hours in September 2010, generation from onshore wind in the Highlands and Islands exceeded local demand meaning that the region was powered from 100 per cent renewable energy. In the past six years this has become a much more common occurrence.

Investment

Significant investment has been made at Machrihanish by Wind Towers Scotland Ltd to create a major manufacturing facility for onshore and offshore wind towers.

Wind Towers Scotland Ltd, a business growing through investment from SSE and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), commenced tower manufacturing at the Machrihanish site in August 2011. Since then the company has realigned production and expanded its finishing facilities. The company has aggressively pursued market opportunities and has been successful in securing orders from a number of different clients. Keeping pace with this has required the realignment of production and recruitment of staff.

As Scotland's only wind turbine tower manufacturer, Wind Towers (Scotland) Ltd, is a very important part of the renewable energy supply chain, as well as a significant employer in the Campbeltown area.

Local Innovation

Chillwind, a company based in the West Highland village of Glenelg, assists developers to explore suitable sites for onshore wind farms. Specialising in wind-monitoring, over the last two decades they have installed and commissioned over 1,000 systems throughout the UK and Europe. In addition to remote access data-loggers and instrumentation, the company also designs, develops and creates meteorological masts of up to 90m.

In August 2012, Chillwind was acquired by Welsh-based Dulas. The company continues to trade as Chillwind, and said that the acquisition would result in greater efficiency and increased capacity to deliver wind monitoring projects throughout Europe, as well as attracting new clients with a wider range of renewable energy services offered by Dulas.