Scottish Power Renewables’ plan to develop Hare Hill Windfarm Extension, located to the south east of New Cumnock – which will see 39 turbines with a generating capacity of around 33 megawatts (MW) – installed has been approved by East Ayrshire Council.
Construction work at Hare Hill Extension is due to start in late 2015, with the project due to be fully completed by 2016.
The project has been in development for nearly 10 years, and will be built near to the existing 13MW, 20-turbine Hare Hill windfarm, which has been operational since 2000.
As part of Scottish Power Renewables’ commitment to the community around Hare Hill Extension, community benefit of the equivalent of £5,000/MW of installed capacity will be provided, delivering up to £4.1m over the project lifetime.
Scottish Power Renewables worked closely with a range of planning, community and environmental stakeholders over several years to develop the project – including NATS En Route, the Ministry of Defence, and Prestwick Airport.
Simon Christian, UK Managing Director, Scottish Power Renewables, said: “The original Hare Hill wind farm was one of the first we built in Scotland, and we have grown from these early projects to become one of the largest developers of wind power in the UK.
“We have since secured consent for over 90% of the wind capacity that we have put into the planning system, which is an industry leading position and testament to the efforts that we put in to every project.
Scottish Power Renewables currently has approximately 1,500MW of onshore wind generation capacity in the UK. Recently completed projects include the 136MW Harestanes windfarm in Dumfries and Galloway and the 44MW Beinn an Tuirc Extension windfarm in Argyll & Bute.
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