THE Whitelee windfarm at Eaglesham Moor is part of a huge drive towards green energy in Scotland. Russell Leadbetter reports in Day Two of our special series IT knocks people off their feet and can send slates flying off roofs. There's no doubt Scotland is a windy country - so much so that green energy trade body Scottish renewables claims it has a quarter of Europe's entire "wind resource".
THE Whitelee windfarm at Eaglesham Moor is part of a huge drive towards green energy in Scotland. Russell Leadbetter reports in Day Two of our special series
IT knocks people off their feet and can send slates flying off roofs. There's no doubt Scotland is a windy country - so much so that green energy trade body Scottish renewables claims it has a quarter of Europe's entire "wind resource".
The wind, and other renewable energy sources, are increasingly important in Scotland.
Yesterday, as he launched his party's European election campaign, SNP leader Alex Salmond declared: "We are developing groundbreaking technology which will put Scotland at the forefront of Europe's renewable revolution and create 16,000 green jobs in Scotland over the next decade."
The First Minister had earlier said that Scotland had a "quarter of Europe's tidal and offshore wind energy resource, and a world class scientific capacity and skills base".
He said green energy could be Scotland's way out of the economic downturn.
He said: "Offshore renewables are set to deliver an economic boost as significant as North Sea oil. We have plans to generate 50% of Scotland's electricity from renewable sources by 2020, and beyond that we have the ability to create enough power to meet the nation's energy demand up to 10 times over."
The first UK windfarm was built in 1991 and there are now more than 200 in operation, with a total of nearly 2500 turbines.
The British Wind Energy Association says all these projects mean that 3,830,937 fewer tonnes of CO2 are being poured into the atmosphere.
According to the Department for Transport figures, the average car in the UK produces 2.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
Whitelee's CO2 emission savings alone are in the region of 500,000 tonnes a year - equivalent to taking more than 200,000 cars off the road.
Two years ago, wind energy in the UK overhauled hydro-power as the largest renewable generation source.
In Scotland, wind-energy's capacity of 1418MW outstrips hydro's 1383MW. Whitelee's capacity of 322MW is a quarter of hydro's total capacity in Scotland.
"Ten years ago," says Alan Mortimer, of ScottishPower Renewables, "hydro generated 10% of Scotland's electricity.
"Since then, wind has come a long way and now accounts for another 10%.
"But when you look at all the developments that have received planning consent, or are about to be built by 2011, we should comfortably be at 31% total renewable electricity in Scotland.
"To be at 50% by 2020 will still be a challenge. But the right things are largely being done to achieve that."
When the winds billow over the isolated moor, they rotate the blades on each turbine. The blades are linked to a gear-box, which is linked to a generator, which sends the power output to a transformer.
The transformer converts the electricity from the generator to the correct voltage for the distribution system. Two large sub-stations at Whitelee feed the power into the national grid, but the energy produced here all goes to the local area.
On the rare days when there's no wind at Whitelee, the slack is taken up by SPR windfarms from Cornwall to Caithness.
 GARY PAINTER, 35, stagedoor manager, Cambuslang:"Since coal and oil are finite resources, I think it's good to have something like wind power that's renewable. Aesthetically, I think they look quite interesting too." |  ANNE DUNSIRE, 58, social care worker, City Centre:"I don't mind the wind farms, depending on where they are situated. For the future, instead of oil and gas, we do need to think about other ways to get energy." |  MARION LEES, 69, retired, Kelvinside:"They are a bit ugly aren't they? In this day and age, however, depending where the wind farms are placed, there probably isn't a better way for creating renewable energy." |  JAMES WHITEFORD, 19, student, East Ayrshire:"I live on a farm and, where our house sits, we look right down on one of the wind farms. We really don't mind them at all." | |
There will be an initial 140 turbines on the moor, and SPR recently announced that the project was being finished early.
Director Keith Anderson said: "To complete Europe's largest on-shore windfarm ahead of schedule is a major achievement.
"A windfarm on this scale has never been attempted before, and every one of the 500 people who has worked on the project deserves huge credit.
"The 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."
For all the dozens of futuristic windmills on the landscape here, Whitelee needs little in the way of upkeep. There are just a dozen people working on maintenance, examining each turbine in turn.
Each turbine has a 97% reliability rate, meaning it is down for 3% of the year for maintenance. "That's better than a power station," says Mr Mortimer, "but then it should be, because they are mechanically a lot simpler."
The 90km of roads and tracks that have taken shape at Whitelee will, once the wind-farm has been built, be improved and opened up to cyclists and ramblers.
Mr Mortimer said: "When we were doing consultations on the project, one thing that came through from local people was their frustration they weren't allowed to walk across the moor. The roads built to allow the erection of the turbines is the ideal opportunity to resolve that.
"We're talking to access officers at the local authorities and have agreed a plan, which means you will be able to get from Eaglesham across to Strathaven in a way you couldn't in the past."
