Scottish Power plans to extend the life and double the capacity of its Whitelee onshore windfarm in a £1.5bn project.

Plans announced by ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) would span ten years of development and construction, and see fewer but more modern, larger powered turbines across the site, with a reduction to 124 turbines around 250m in height, taking capacity from 539MW to 1GW.

In a landmark development for the energy sector, ScottishPower Renewables is also committing to ensuring the community is involved in the project through ownership opportunities and an enlarged community benefit fund.

As well as the £1.5bn investment to expand and repower the windfarm, there will also be continued investment over 40 years for the operation and maintenance of the site.

Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables chief executive, said: “Whitelee is one of the largest windfarms in Europe and the jewel in the UK’s renewables crown, powering Greater Glasgow and beyond with clean, green power for almost two decades. At this critical moment in the push for home-grown clean, green energy, it’s important we don’t go in reverse and lose the clean capacity that’s been hard earned over the last two decades as it comes to the end of its operational life.”

Whitelee was originally commissioned in 2008 and consisted of 140 turbines when it opened to the public in 2009. Since then, the windfarm has undergone two phases of extensions with the phase 1 extension adding 36 turbines to the development and phase 2 adding a further 39, taking the total to 215.

A planning application is set to be submitted in December 2027, with the repowering planned to be operational by 2035.

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