Construction work on Scotland’s largest wind farm is set to be completed ahead of schedule in the next few weeks
The 140 turbines at the Whitelee development on Eaglesham Moor, near East Kilbride, will produce enough electricity to power 180,000 homes.
The site is due to open to the public later in the summer.
The developers, Scottish Power Renewables, have submitted plans for a further 36 wind turbines at Whitelee to the Scottish Government.
In January the company also revealed that it plans to apply for planning permission to erect an additional 45 turbines later this year.
The Whitelee development is the biggest onshore wind farm in Europe.
Keith Anderson, Director of ScottishPower Renewables, said: “To complete Europe’s largest on-shore wind farm ahead of schedule is a major achievement.
“A wind farm on this scale has never been attempted before, and every one of the 500 people who have worked on the project deserves huge credit.”
He added: “First electricity generation from the site was achieved in January 2008 and since then we have been feeding a steadily increasing amount of green energy into the electricity grid.
“This substantial amount of green energy will be beneficial to the local area and will make a significant contribution towards national renewable energy targets.”
As well as the huge turbines the site will also host a £2m state-of-the-art visitor centre.
Tours of the wind farm will also be available for visitors, and plans are being made to introduce eco-friendly buses powered by electricity generated from the site.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk