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SSE onshore wind capacity passes gigawatt milestone

Pictured at the Sustainable Travel Summit held at Perth Racecourse is Ian Marchant (Convenor of the 2020 Group and Chief Executive of SSE).
Pictured at the Sustainable Travel Summit held at Perth Racecourse is Ian Marchant (Convenor of the 2020 Group and Chief Executive of SSE).

Perth-based energy giant SSE has underlined its leading position in the UK’s renewables sector by confirming its onshore wind capacity has passed 1,000MW for the first time.

The FTSE-100 quoted firm said more than 300MW in additional wind power resources had come on-stream in the last nine months alone after significant progress on large capital projects in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The surge in capacity means SSE is now generating more power from its windfarms than from its established hydro-electric schemes, which collectively produce 1150MW of electricity.

The established onshore wind capacity is now enough to power more than 900,000 homes given an average consumption of 3300kWh per year.

The scale of SSE’s push into renewables has been enormous, with the company’s interests in onshore wind having multiplied more than 28 times from a base of 40MW six years ago.

At the end of the last financial year, the company had projects comprising more than 1,900MW in operation, construction or development and had submitted plans to various authorities seeking permissions for a further 800MW of onshore wind capacity.

Chief executive Ian Marchant said the establishment of more than one gigawatt of onshore wind was a significant milestone for SSE, and added that more capacity would continue to come on-stream throughout this year.

He said: ”The safe and timely delivery of new assets is a key priority for SSE, and passing the one gigawatt milestone for onshore windfarm capacity is a very positive development as we start the new year.

”With construction work continuing at sites in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, we expect that our operating onshore windfarm capacity will continue to grow significantly in the coming months.”

The £500m Clyde array one of the largest consented windfarms in Europe with a 152 turbines and a 350MW capacity and the 156MW Griffin farm between Dunkeld and Aberfeldy in Perthshire are among the major projects that have spearheaded the growth, along with the 70MW Gordonbush array in Sutherland and the Slieve Kirk and Rathcahill arrays in Northern Ireland.

The company is also significantly involved in offshore wind production.

Last month it signed a memorandum of understanding with Dundee City Council, Forth Ports Ltd and Scottish Enterprise to pursue its interest in a new renewables manufacturing base at Dundee Port.

It is expected that the development will create up to 700 direct jobs and hundreds more in the supply chain.