Huge new target for wind-farm capacity

Published Date: 07 September 2008
By Rosemary Gallagher

ENERGY firm ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) has set an ambitious new target for wind-farm development by revealing that it wants to increase capacity by 80%.
It was previously committed to producing 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2010 but has raised that to 1,800MW by 2012.As the majority of its wind farms are in Scotland, the firm says this will help the Scottish Government achieve its aim of generating 31% of the country's electricity demand from renewable sources by 2011 and 50% by 2020.The go-ahead from the planning authorities to build new wind farms across the UK, with more in the pipeline, has allowed it to increase its target.Its Spanish parent firm Iberdrola Renewables will invest ?about ?2.2bn in wind farms in the UK through SPR by 2012.Last week, planning permission was granted for SPR's first 500MW offshore development at West of Duddon Sands, off the Barrow-in-Furness coastline, which will produce enough green energy for 372,000 homes. Glasgow-based SPR is the UK's biggest owner-operator of onshore wind farms and work has begun on a 144-turbine farm at Whitelee near Glasgow, which will produce enough energy for the whole city. Keith Anderson, director of SPR, said the project was good for the economy and created 400 jobs. "We have been way ahead in gaining an understanding of renewable technology, how to design wind farms and the best places to put them."