Europe’s largest wind farm completed

clipped from www.energyefficiencynews.com Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, today officially switched on the final turbines at the Whitelee wind farm – Europe’s largest on-shore facility – and announced a further extension to the site. The £300 million wind farm, developed by ScottishPower Renewables (part of the Iberdrola Group), currently has 140 turbines across a 55 km2 site, situated 15km out of Glasgow and generates 322 MW of electricity – sufficient to power 180,000 homes. The planned extension approved today will add a further 130 MW of installed capacity, whilst a potential second extension currently being scoped has the potential for a further 140 MW. The farm has taken over a decade to complete from the initial identification of the site in 1999 and at its peak, employed over 500 staff in its construction. A £2million visitor centre is currently being built on the site and will be open to the public later this year.