Working with Eurowind Energy, Locogen has helped deliver Scotland’s largest refurbished wind farm.
Situated to the east of Grantshouse in the Scottish Borders, the 16MW Howpark Farmhouse wind farm is a new subsidy-free development comprising eight V80 Vestas turbines.
First consented in 2018, the Howpark Farmhouse Wind Farm provides a novel approach to challenging economic and site conditions.
Howpark is situated between two existing wind farms, where the turbines are considerably smaller than today’s new models. Installing much larger new turbines on this site could therefore make consenting difficult.
Developing the site with similarly sized refurbished turbines, however, reflects the scale of the adjacent developments, maintaining a consistent visual impact.
This approach was recognized by the Scottish government reporter granting the planning appeal, who concluded that the Howpark Farmhouse Wind Farm, “Would not add significantly to the landscape effect of the Drone-Penmanshiel cluster”.
The case for refurbished turbines
Clearly, new, typically larger, turbines may not always be appropriate for every sites. So deploying smaller, refurbished models allows the possibility of developing sites that may otherwise face difficulties in consenting. Also, economic considerations are paramount in subsidy-free wind farms and the saving achieved by deploying refurbished turbines was key in delivering the project.
The Howpark turbines were refurbished by Northern Renewable and life expectancy is excellent at 25 years or more.
CO2 impact of refurbished turbines
Project highlights
- Saves 4,400 tonnes of CO2 compared with new turbines
- Significant cost savings increase viability of otherwise uneconomic projects
- Smaller turbines improve consenting prospects on constrained sites
- Reduces recycling overheads