UK's biggest offshore windfarm - in Scotland

Update Spring 2010: Production started in April 2010. Some of the bases don't have turbines installed yet.

Update December 2008: Construction has been ongoing for some months now and many of the pylon bases are in place. They are being shipped into the Solway from Belfast and sunk into place on the bed of the estuary, ready for the turbines to be mounted and generation to begin.

History of Project: Despite opposition from some local campaigners, ministers have agreed plans to build the UK's largest offshore wind farm in the Solway Firth, off the coast of Dumfries and Galloway at Balcary Point, almost equidistant from the Cumbrian Coast. The Robin Rigg wind farm is to be built on sandbanks 9km from the nearest land. It will have 60 wind turbines producing 199MW at full power- enough electricity to supply 180,000 houses. The proposal had led to opposition from some local campaigners as well as fishing and yachting groups. Announcing the decision to give the project the go ahead, Lewis Macdonald, the deputy enterprise minister, said "The wind farm has the potential to cut our future carbon emissions through renewable energy and contribute significantly to the Scottish Climate Change Programme."

He added that "The decision to grant consent on this proposal has not been taken lightly and has followed a lengthy consultation process to ensure the Executive’s strategy towards realising natural renewable resources does not come at an unacceptable cost to the surrounding environment. The conditions attached to this consent provide strict standards to safeguard our natural heritage during and beyond the life span of the power station. This proposal will provide clear environmental benefits as well as securing Scotland’s position as a key player in the development of a renewables sector in Europe."

The Scotsman (20/3) reported that Alasdair Morgan, the SNP MSP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, had welcomed the decision and rejected claims by anti-wind farm groups that it would be a blight on the landscape and had argued that "a successful Robin Rigg project will have substantial benefits and will serve as the starting point for significantly greater development of all types of renewable energy, not just energy that comes from wind farms. Potential for significant job benefits exists. Such benefits will arise not only from one project, but from Galloway becoming Scotland's centre for clean and green energy." He had added: "Going ahead with the Robin Rigg project will not mean covering every hill in Galloway and every inch of coastal water with turbines. However, not going ahead with the project would have meant missing the bus on renewable energy, which would have been a severe blow to the economy of the south-west."

As legislation is required in relation to access rights, a special Holyrood committee has been set up to examine the Robin Rigg Wind Farm Bill, which has cleared the first stage of its journey through parliament. The Scotsman noted that "MSP's are expected to carry out detailed scrutiny of the bill after the election. Scottish Natural Heritage, one of Scotland's leading conservation bodies, published a report... warning that more research is needed into the environmental impact of renewable technology on marine life".