Project Status
Plans are progressing to construct the Whitelaw Brae Wind Farm located 15 km north of Moffat and 3 km south of Tweedsmuir in the Scottish Borders.
Since enabling works started in Autumn 2022, the construction of a new entrance / access to the wind farm site from the A701 has been completed. The junction to the wind farm has been widened to allow component deliveries, and around 70 m of new track has been laid to link the existing Tweed Bridge.
Site preparations are underway for the main construction phase. This involves the removal of 60 ha of commercial forestry of mainly Sitka Spruce. The loss of the commercial forest will be compensated by planting new native broad leaf woodland and shrubbery at other locations.
More about the Tree Felling
Our contractors moved to site at the end of November 2023. Initial activity will consist of track improvements in and around the forested areas to enable the removal of the timber. Trees will be felled, and the logs removed from the area in stages. This phase is expected to take nine months to complete.
About the Project
BayWa r.e. UK acquired the consented site in May 2019 as part of its purchase of Forsa Energy’s renewable energy portfolio. Once constructed, the Whitelaw Brae Wind Farm will feature up to 14 turbines with a maximum height to blade tip of 133.5 m. The expected generating capacity of the project is up to 57 MW, which is enough energy to supply approximately 43,000 homes annually with clean, renewable energy*.
Site Location
133.5 m height
up to 57 MW
up to ca. 43,000
BayWa r.e. UK Ltd.
- Ecology
- Cutting the grass around the surrounding waterbodies on site will provide a suitable nesting habitat for wader species, such as lapwing, curlew, snipe, and ringed plover
- Removal of scrub area of peatland encourages the growth of heather, mosses, and other moorland species, promoting biodiversity
- Creation of wader 'scrapes', which are shallow depressions with gently sloping edges that encourage insects. These are an important food source for breeding wading birds and their chicks
- Nest box added for barn owls to provide suitable nesting locations
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Why here?
- The location provides a good wind resource
- There is feasible connection to the national grid
- This site in particular has land available and good access to and from the public road
- The site demonstrates limited environmental impacts that are able to be substantially mitigated in order to ensure protection
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Access
- Access will be from the A701 and the works to improve this have been completed to facilitate component deliveries
- The majority of construction traffic will arrive to site from the south via the A74 (M) and A701 as detailed in the Traffic Management Plan agreed with Scottish Borders Council
Benefits of Wind Energy
- Supporting governmental climate targets;
- Supporting the Scottish Borders Council’s climate targets;
- Producing enough clean, renewable electricity to power up to 43,000 homes each year;
- Providing opportunities for biodiversity net gain through biodiversity enhancement measures;
- Providing local contracting opportunities for civil works during construction;
- Setting up an annual community benefit contribution fund.
*Calculated using the most recent statistics from DESNZ showing that annual GB average domestic household consumption is 3,509kWh (as of December 2022, updated annually): number of megawatts installed, multiplied by a load factor expressed as a fraction of 1, multiplied by number of hours in a year, divided by average annual domestic electricity consumption expressed in MWh.
