Wind power in Scotland

[1] The largest onshore wind farm in the UK is Whitelee, just south of Glasgow, with 215 turbines and a total capacity of 539 MW.

Hywind Scotland off the coast of Peterhead was the world's first floating offshore wind farm, commissioned in October 2017.

The first recorded public electricity system was installed on Wormit hill to supply the houses built by Alexander Stewart who built much of the village[8] This initially consisted of a "Windmill" on Wormit Hill and backup Steam Generator before replacement with a diesel generator in the 1930s.

[19] The farm was opened at a ceremonial ribbon cutting by First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond in September 2012.

As a result of 3 extensions it is currently the 2nd largest wind farm in the UK, both in terms of nameplate capacity and number of turbines.

Every year the wind farm generates enough clean electricity to meet the average annual needs of some 54,000 homes.

The 120 MW, 52-turbine wind farm in South Ayrshire cost £85 million and in a year generates enough electricity to power 80,000 homes, sufficient to supply every household in a city the size of York.

The windfarm is funded using a co-operative model by Ripple Energy,[29] allowing for small investments from individuals based on offsetting their own annual electricity consumption.

[30] Whitelaw Brae Wind Farm will feature up to 14 turbines with an expected generating capacity of up to 57 MW, which is enough energy to supply approximately 43,000 homes.

[32] Scotland's first offshore wind turbine was placed near the Beatrice Oil Field, 24 km (15 mi; 13 nmi) off the east coast in the Moray Firth, North Sea, in August 2006.

While noting offshore wind has a role to plan in addressing climate change, RSPB Scotland criticised the projects, claiming they could kill hundreds of seabird.

[40] The Scottish Government faced some criticism it was undervaluing the seabed, initially setting the option agreements at up to £10k per km2 although this was revised to £100k per km2 before the auction.

Crown Estate Scotland expects that the rent paid by projects that get built, at £1.07 per MWh produced would be more than the £756m in option fees.

[41] In 2022, Crown Estate Scotland announced a further leasing round for Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) projects.

This offered two "pots", firstly for small (less than 100 MW) innovative deep water wind arrays, the "IN" part of INTOG.

Secondly, larger Targeted Oil & Gas (TOG) farms supplying power to existing offshore infrastructure.

The Heritage Trust set up Gigha Renewable Energy to buy and operate three Vestas V27 wind turbines, known locally as The Dancing Ladies or Creideas, Dòchas is Carthannas (Gaelic for Faith, Hope and Charity).

The siting of turbines is often an issue, but multiple surveys have shown high local community acceptance for wind power in Scotland.

However this survey has been widely criticised for its methodology, in that it used a weighting scale such that the opinion those who lived nearer windfarms was rated as of lesser importance.

[71][75][76] In 2013, a YouGov energy survey concluded that: New YouGov research for Scottish Renewables shows Scots are twice as likely to favour wind power over nuclear or shale gas Over six in ten (62%) people in Scotland say they would support large scale wind projects in their local area, more than double the number who said they would be generally for shale gas (24%) and almost twice as much as nuclear (32%).

Hydro power is the most popular energy source for large scale projects in Scotland, with an overwhelming majority (80%) being in favour.

The John Muir Trust has stated that "the best renewable energy options around wild land are small-scale, sensitively sited and adjacent to the communities directly benefiting from them".

[87] The £90 million Black Law Wind Farm is located near Forth in Lanarkshire and has been built on an old opencast coalmine site which was completely restored to shallow wetlands during the construction programme.

[88] This also is true of Berwickshire, which is home to the second largest windfarm in the UK, Crystal Rig Wind Farm, and where hundreds more turbines are due to be situated, contrary to the wishes of many residents of the county, and the John Muir Trust.

Construction of wind farms by the electrical generating industry lead to duplication of existing power plants which were still needed as backup without increasing the utilities customer base or their output.

[94] Scottish Natural Heritage has stated that the decommissioning of ageing turbine structures in the future would be more deleterious to the environment than leaving the bases in place, thus littering Scotland's wild land with concrete which though they could be covered with topsoil, could lead to "oxidising and subsequent staining/contamination" and would lead to irreversible damage to the sensitive peatlands on which many are built.

The Whitelee Wind Farm Visitor Centre has an exhibition room, a learning hub, a café with a viewing deck and also a shop.

A small wind farm in Shetland with five Vestas V47 660 kW turbines recently achieved a world record of 58% capacity over the course of a year.

[26][100] However, a Scottish opposition group found 124 separate occasions from 2008 to 2010 when the nation's wind output fell to less than 2% of installed capacity.

[102] According to a recent report, the world's wind market offers many opportunities for Scottish companies, with total global revenue over the next five years estimated at £35 billion and continued growth forecast until at least 2025.