German energy firm RWE is set to begin construction on the 63MW Strathy Wood onshore wind farm near Inverness, its third Scottish development to get underway within 12 months.
The company said Scotland is “at the heart” of its plans to grow its onshore wind portfolio.
RWE said pre-construction work at the Strathy Wood site, near Caithness, will now begin with the project expected to be operational by 2025.
When complete, RWE said the 11-turbine project will generate enough electricity to power 68,000 homes.
The company said the start of work follows its recent commitment to invest €8 billion(£6.9 billion) into new clean energy infrastructure including in Scotland, from 2024 to 2030.
In addition to developing its onshore portfolio, late last year RWE spent close to £1 billion to acquire the 4.2GW UK Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone portfolio from Vattenfall.
Three Scottish wind farms underway
RWE is already constructing two other onshore wind projects in Scotland, the 69MW Enoch Hill project in East Ayrshire and the 36MW Camster II development in Caithness.
RWE said Enoch Hill will be its largest onshore wind farm to be built in Scotland, comprising 15 Nordex wind turbines with an overall maximum tip height of 149.9m.
Meanwhile, the 10-turbine Camster II project will be built next to the company’s existing 25-turbine 50MW Camster wind farm.
RWE said construction of the three projects will leverage an investment equal to around a total of £25 million into Scottish communities, based on a 30 year operational lifetime of the projects.
Across the lifetime of its current renewables projects in Scotland, RWE said an additional amount of approximately £17 million will be contributed to Scottish community benefit funds.
RWE head of onshore renewables development Scotland Victoria Allen said the company’s ambition in Scotland is “ever growing” as it reached construction milestones across the three sites.
“Onshore wind has an important role to play in helping deliver the UK and Scottish governments’ net zero emission targets in the coming years and remains the lowest cost form of renewable electricity generation,” Ms Allen said.
In addition to the three projects under construction, RWE said it has a 1.2GW onshore wind development pipeline of 22 projects, with 16 located in Scotland and 8 in Wales.
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