The company is in the early stages of exploring the potential for a wind farm and energy storage facility located approximately 9 kilometres north of Lauder in the Scottish Borders. It is holding two public exhibitions in the local area next week to enable people to learn more about the project, discuss any questions with the project team, and provide feedback on the initial design. There will be a range of information at the exhibitions, including visualisations to help give an impression of what the current site design and layout could look like from different viewpoints in the area.
“We look forward to speaking to people about our plans for Longcroft Wind Farm” said Gavin Shirley, Development Project Manager at RES. “We welcome constructive feedback on the layout and delivery of the project which has the potential to change and influence the design. In addition to people’s comments on the proposal itself, we would also like to hear ideas for how the wind farm could help to secure other long-term economic, social and environmental benefits during its operation. This would help us to deliver a tailored community benefits package aligned with the communities’ priorities. This could include RES’ Local Electricity Discount Scheme which offers an annual discount to the electricity bills of those properties closest to the wind farm.”
The wind farm proposal first became public in March 2023 when RES submitted a Scoping Report to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit seeking feedback from key consultees on the proposed scope of environmental work. If consented, Longcroft Wind Farm would be capable of generating enough clean, low-cost electricity to meet the annual demand of around 110,000 homes and is predicted to deliver approximately £5.8 million of inward investment into the area in the form of jobs, employment, and the use of local services.
Onshore wind alongside other renewable energy technologies can generate the cheapest form of new electricity generation. It also increases energy security by reducing our reliance on imports and builds our resilience to sudden fossil fuel price fluctuations or the uncertainty of global markets.
In Scotland, RES has developed/or constructed 21 wind farms with a total generation capacity of 597 MW. The Scottish Government has set a legally binding target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045 and onshore wind projects like Longcroft will play an important role in helping to achieve these targets.
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