First ‘subsidy-free’ onshore wind farm for Scotland

Working with its partner WWS Renewables, the company has started construction of the 46 MW wind farm in Dumfries and Galloway, south west Scotland, with first power production expected in September 2020. 

The project, which reached financial close in August, is believed to be the first to be project-financed, and thus subsidy-free, with Close Brothers Leasing funding the scheme. Turbines are to be supplied by Nordex. Muirhall has offered the local community the chance to buy up to 10% of the project via a community share offer. 

While delighted to be involved in this subsidy-free wind development, Muirhall Energy Managing Director Chris Walker acknowledged that external funding would lead to more wind power being built. ‘Access to the Contract for Difference or some other support mechanism would make a huge difference to the economics of the sector, encouraging the build-out of some of the more challenging consented sites, therefore ensuring onshore wind makes the biggest possible contribution,’ he said. 

Trade association RenewableUK’s Head of Policy and Regulation, Rebecca Williams, added: ‘It’s exciting to see work getting underway on what will be one of the UK’s first subsidy-free onshore wind farms, with all the economic benefits that brings to local construction companies as well as consumers. Several other such projects are in the pipeline, but we need more volume if we’re to maximise the benefits of the UK’s cheapest power source and reach net zero emissions at the lowest cost.’ 

Meanwhile, the Carbon Trust-managed Floating Wind Joint Industry Project has launched the Floating Wind Technology Acceleration Competition to accelerate the development and commercialisation of floating wind. The Trust, together with 14 offshore wind developers, will select the best ideas. The competition has a £1mn fund from the Scottish government to help meet decarbonisation targets. 

The Carbon Trust says that the nascent floating offshore wind sector is forecast to deliver up to 12 GW of generating capacity by 2030, and that realising this scale of deployment will require innovative solutions to de-risk the technology and reduce costs. 

The new competition seeks to attract ideas both from within the offshore wind industry and a variety of other sectors. It will search for technologies to address challenges such as technologies to enable component exchange offshore and new methods for monitoring and inspection of large numbers of mooring lines, power cables and foundation structures.