One of the UK’s biggest planned investments in renewable energy completed its first phase [today] as Centrica brought its Glens of Foudland wind farm in Scotland on line as part of its £750 million plans to supply Scottish Gas and British Gas customers with electricity from green sources.
The £31 million 26MW project in Aberdeenshire will be capable of supplying around 13,000 customers’ homes with clean, green electricity. It will help to save 60,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
Glens of Foudland, with twenty 78 metre high turbines is the first of several projects either planned or under development by Centrica, including two wind farms in the Greater Wash which combined and once operational, will form the biggest offshore wind development to date in the UK.
Centrica expects to invest around £750 million over the next five years in renewables and last year demonstrated its green credentials with British Gas being the only large energy supplier in the UK to meet its renewables obligation through buying electricity from existing wind farms or green sources (renewable obligation certificates or ROCs) rather than paying the buyout fund. Centrica is also a partner in the Barrow Offshore Wind (BOW) project in the Irish Sea with DONG, which will supply around 65,000 customers with renewable electricity. It also owns a number of larger wind farm projects in The Wash, which are expected to be developed later in the decade.
Jake Ulrich, Managing Director of Centrica Energy, said: “Glens of Foudland is a key milestone for us as our first operational wind farm and underlines the significant investment to supply our Scottish Gas and British Gas customers with electricity from renewable sources in the years ahead.”