Scotland's first commercial wind farm to be upgraded
- Published
Energy giant Scottish Power has announced plans to upgrade Scotland's first commercial wind development and develop a new wind farm.
It says the project in South Lanarkshire will produce 165MW of energy - enough to power 100,000 homes.
The new 100MW wind farm has been earmarked for a site near Douglas but it has yet to receive planning consent.
And 26 turbines at Hagshaw Hill, built in the mid-1990s, will be replaced with 14 more efficient machines.
The firm says the £150m project is expected to create 600 jobs at its peak and 280 long-term jobs.
The sites will form part of a 200MW "clean-energy cluster" for Scottish Power in the region.
The cluster includes the 55MW Douglas West wind farm, which the energy giant acquired last year and is currently under development.
Scottish Power chief executive Keith Anderson said its investment in the South Lanarkshire sites showed the firm was "undeterred" by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a speech to the All Energy Conference, which was held online, Mr Anderson said the economic recovery from the Covid crisis should be tied to tackling climate change.
"Now we have two crises to deal with," he said. "One long in the making, the other so immediate and requiring such an immediate response.
"But we should not view these very different crises separately. The need to rebuild our economy should be permanently linked with the need to green our economy."
Scottish Power became the first major UK energy company to generate all of its energy from wind power in 2018.
Mr Anderson said the firm would play its part in the UK's economic recovery and was expected to maintain its investment plans over the coming months.
It would help "provide the impetus and catalyst for a green recovery," he said.
"As businesses, as regulators, as stakeholders and as legislators, we need to have the confidence and the courage to take advantage of today's situation," he said.
"To reset the dial for faster progress towards Net Zero in ways that create employment, environmental benefits and inclusiveness."