17th July 2006

WIND FARM GIVEN GO-AHEAD IN SCOTTISH BORDERS

Farm land near Stow in the Scottish Borders will soon be home to a nineteen turbine wind farm as plans submitted back in February 2004 by wind energy developer Wind Prospect were last week approved by the Scottish Executive.

Longpark Wind Farm was initially refused consent by Scottish Borders Council in August 2005. Wind Prospect immediately lodged an appeal to the Scottish Executive resulting in a week long public inquiry held in March of this year.

The development, which will be located approximately 5km north of Galashiels, will consist of nineteen wind turbines, each with a maximum height to blade tip of 110 metres. The wind farm will supply, on average, as much clean green electricity in a year as is used by around 27,000 homes. When compared to equivalent generation by fossil fuel power stations, it will prevent the emission to the atmosphere of approximately 114,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas.

The initial planning application was submitted for the wind farm after independent studies confirmed Wind Prospect’s own assessment that the area was suitable for a wind energy development. Local residents were able to find out more about the proposal at an exhibition held by Wind Prospect in September 2003. Feedback from this exhibition was very positive and helped to finalise the plans for the project. An additional public exhibition was held in March 2004 once the planning application had been submitted to Scottish Borders Council.

In addition to the environmental benefits which are associated with this non-polluting sustainable energy generation technology, the benefits for the local community will include a Local Trust Fund which will be financed from a proportion of the revenue generated by the wind farm. The Trust Funds objective is to provide a locally controlled community resource to help fund local energy efficiency and sustainability projects as well as general environmental enhancement projects.

It is likely that construction work will begin on the £33 million project in spring 2007 with electricity generation scheduled for spring 2008.

Damian Aubrey, Development Manager with Wind Prospect said:
‘In making this decision, the Scottish Executive have shown that wind energy must play an increasingly important part in our future energy mix, as concerns about the effects of both global warming and the security of our energy supply are growing. With this proposal the Scottish Borders has an opportunity to contribute further to both UK and Scottish targets for Renewable Energy.

Wind Prospect look forward to commencing construction of Longpark Wind Farm early next year with electricity generation scheduled for spring 2008.’

Ends