Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has granted consent for a 22-turbine wind farm in West Lothian, while refusing permission for a similar sized scheme in the same area.
The Harburnhead development, near West Calder, is expected to create approximately 80 jobs during construction, and will have a total generating capacity of up to 66 megawatts of electricity.
Once constructed, it is anticipated that the development will generate in the region of £9 million for the local economy.
Enel Viento, the Spanish developer and its York-based agent, Arcus Renewable Energy Consulting, has teamed up with West Calder and Harburn Community Development Trust to provide a community fund to support local projects throughout the operational life of the wind farm.
Meanwhile, an application to build the 21-turbine Fauch Hill wind farm, also near West Calder, has been refused on the grounds of unacceptable adverse visual and landscape impacts.
Ewing said: “The Harburnhead wind farm will create jobs both in its construction and during its lifetime, and will be able to produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 31,000 homes in West Lothian. The community fund that has been offered by the developer will bring considerable benefits to the local community.
“Scotland is already providing over a third of the UK’s renewable electricity generation and helping to keep the lights on across our islands at a time where there is an increasingly tight gap between electricity supply and demand.
“We want to see the right developments in the right places, and that is why I have refused permission for the proposed wind farm at Fauch Hill, which I consider would have brought unacceptable impacts on the landscape, particularly the Pentland hills.”
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