(Bloomberg) — ScottishPower Renewables Ltd., a unit of
Iberdrola SA, started building a 300 million-pound ($468.5
million) wind farm in Scotland.
The unit of Spain’s largest utility on Tuesday said it had
started construction of the project in South Ayrshire. Once
complete, it will generate enough electricity for 130,000 homes.
It will comprise 96 turbines for a capacity of as much as 239
megawatts, ScottishPower said in a statement on its website.
It’s expected to start working in 2017.
“This will be ScottishPower Renewables’ second largest
windfarm and the third largest overall in the U.K.,” said
Staurt Mason, construction director for the unit. “We currently
have more than 1.5 gigawatts of installed onshore wind capacity
in the U.K., and Kilgallioch will help us on our way to
achieving a 2-gigawatt milestone — enough to power over 1
million homes.”
The U.K. government last month said it plans to halt
assistance from one of its subsidy programs for new onshore wind
farms year early than planned. That decision meets an election
pledge by the ruling Conservatives to end support. The clean-energy industry criticized the move, saying it would hurt the
cheapest form of large-scale renewable power.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net