Renewable energy company EDF Renewables UK has confirmed it is set to explore the feasibility of a 400MW wind farm proposal across two areas of commercial forestry within the Scottish Borders.
The potential 400MW onshore wind farm would be situated in both Wauchope Forest and Newcastleton Forest with EDF seeking community engagement to help provide benefits to communities.
EDF Renewables confirmed it will be submitting a scoping report for the project to the Scottish Borders Council soon. The organisation stated that the project could include up to 80 wind turbines, a battery energy storage system (BESS) and onsite solar.
Whilst the project is still in the “very initial stages of development” EDF stated that the project’s team is beginning early engagement with local residents, local groups and elected representatives about how the project could boost the local economy.
The project will help contribute to the Scottish Government’s target of having 20GW of onshore wind capacity available by 2030.
“The plans for the proposed Liddesdale wind farm are at an early stage and there is still a large amount of information to gather before a detailed proposal can be finalised. The submission of the scoping report to Scottish Borders Council is an important initial milestone for the project – allowing us to begin robust and detailed conversations with the local community on our proposal,” said Andrew Bennett, development project manager at EDF Renewables UK.
“Close community engagement will be a major part of our approach to developing this proposal and there will be multiple opportunities for the community to view, comment and provide feedback on the proposals as they develop.
“Through close and positive engagement with the community and stakeholders, we hope to develop a proposal that delivers local economic benefits and community ownership options as well as supporting the Scottish Government’s ambition to generate 20GW of green energy from onshore wind and 50% of Scotland’s total energy demand from renewables by 2030.”
The Scottish wind sector continues to boom. Earlier this year, analysis conducted by RenewableUK indicated that in total, ten new onshore wind projects had been installed across the UK in 2022 which added a total of 318MW. Six of these were built in Scotland, with a capacity of 314MW. One new project went fully operational in Wales, with a capacity of 2.5MW, and two in Northern Ireland with a capacity of 0.5MW. There was just one project in England, with a capacity of 1MW, comprising two turbines.
Deployment in Scotland had grown from the 295MW installed in 2021.
