Powered by the wind

Turbines are becoming a familiar feature of the landscape. John Goodall looks at their operation, form and future through the example of the largest onshore wind farm in the UK

-  John Goodall

WIND turbines have long been objects of controversy. The erection of large, prominent and moving manmade structures in the landscape has seemed shocking to some. To make matters worse, wind farms have necessarily been erected in remote areas loved for their wild beauty. Attitudes towards them, however, have undoubtedly softened in the past few years. A widespread acknowledgement of the reality of climate change and, more recently, the massive spike in energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine have done a great deal to shift attitudes. Certainly, if we are to enjoy affordable power and reduce our carbon emissions, wind is clearly a hugely important future source of clean energy. Whether we love or loathe them, therefore, they are a fixture for the foreseeable future.

There is no better way to learn about wind farms than by visiting the largest on-shore example in the UK. Whitelee Wind Farm, built by Scottish Power between 2007 and 2009, comprises 215 individual turbines set out across 32 square miles of peat moor in East Renfrewshire, East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. Although Scotland constitutes only 1% of the European landmass, it receives a disproportionately high quantity of the area’s wind. This makes it particularly well suited to wind-generated power; that’s in contrast to much of England, which has less wind and more sun, making solar panels a better source of renewable energy. Scotland’s wind may also explain why the first turbine to generate electricity was set up by a Glasgow engineer, Prof James Blyth, to power his holiday home at Marykirk in 1887.