Whitelee Wind Farm (Image credit: newsquest.co.uk)

As was announced almost a month ago, Scottish Power (owned by Spanish Iberdrola Renovables) was to complete the Whitelee Wind Farm ahead of schedule, and they did. The company has officially switched-on the last of the installed wind turbines, to complete the total power output of up to 322 MW connected to the power grid. Whitelee is Europe's largest onshore wind farm at the moment, but there are plans to extend the installed capacity by another 130, as the Scottish Government has just approved this extension proposal. Furthermore, the company is thinking about a second extension proposal, that would add another 140 MW to the wind farm, totalling in almost 600 MW of wind power, if accepted.

Whitelee Wind Farm is located about 30 km from Glasgow, and is one of the first large wind farms to be built relatively close to a major population area. Among other infrastructural works like power lines, roads, there is also the state-of-the-art visitor center, to be completed soon, that will create a unique tourist destination in Scotland.