UK's largest wind farm to be rebuilt with fewer, larger turbines
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- Scottish Power Renewables will replace Whitelee's 215 existing turbines with 124 larger ones, each about 110m (361ft) taller, in a £1.5 billion "repowering" project announced as the original fleet reaches the end of its operational life.
- The rebuild doubles Whitelee's electricity output from 539 megawatts to 1 gigawatt — enough to power roughly 650,000 homes — with full operation expected by 2035.
- Work proceeds in three phases over 10 years; a planning application is expected to be submitted to the Scottish government's energy consents unit by the end of next year.
- Whitelee Windfarm, opened in 2009 by then first minister Alex Salmond as Europe's largest onshore wind farm, spans about 83 sq km on Eaglesham Moor south of Glasgow and includes footpaths and a visitor centre that Scottish Power says will remain accessible throughout construction.
- Scottish Power Renewables said 99% of the existing turbines will be recycled, and the project is expected to generate approximately £330m for the Scottish economy.
- According to analysts Regen, more than half of Great Britain's current wind farm capacity is expected to reach the end of its life within the next decade, creating a pipeline of repowering work.
Why it matters: More than half of GB's wind capacity will reach end-of-life within the next decade (analysts Regen), making Scottish Power Renewables' £1.5bn Whitelee rebuild — swapping 215 turbines for 124 larger ones and doubling output to 1GW — a high-stakes test case for whether operators can preserve clean generation as aging sites retire rather than lose hard-won capacity.
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