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UK Wind Company Has Announced £1bn Investment in Wind Farm
Renewable energy developer Burcote Wind has recently announced a £1bn investment in wind farm projects across Scotland which could create almost 600 jobs and power over half a million homes.
The UK firm which has its headquarters in Dunfermline, plans to develop 10 wind farms at locations across Scotland. They are targeting a total installation of 800MW of installed electricity generating capacity.
If this goes through, the projects could generate an annual output of around 2.6million megawatt-hours (MWh), capable of meeting the energy needs of 554,000 homes and displacing over 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The 10 pipeline projects represent a total investment of around £1.08bn and this includes the cost of pre-planning, expenditure on turbines and grid connection upgrades as well as operating costs. These projects are said to create about 110 permanent jobs in engineering and maintenance. During the building phase, approximately 475 construction jobs will also be created.
Burcote Wind is proposing projects for four sites in various parts of Scotland. At each site, the company wants to establish a community benefit fund which will go towards funding education and training places at local colleges in engineering and other renewables-related subjects. The total value of the proposed community benefit fund alone totals to £60million over the 25-year lifetimes of the wind farms.
Graham Brown, Chairman of Burcote Wind, said: “Our pipeline of projects represents a major investment in Scotland’s renewables sector worth around £1billion, with the potential to create and support nearly 600 jobs. We’re adamant that we want our projects to contribute to Scotland’s ambitions to reinvigorate its industrial base. So as well as creating skilled jobs, we are exploring opportunities to use community benefit funding to create training opportunities for young people at local colleges and help equip our workforce with the skills needed for Scotland to take full advantage of the huge economic potential the renewables industry has to offer. By providing vital investment in skills, these projects can help Scotland become a world leader in renewables technology in the years to come.”
Scotland has set ambitious renewable energy targets and the country has secured 750 million pounds of investment in 2011. Scotland is ideally located for wind energy projects and this is something that many companies realize as they are rushing to tap into a resource that is readily available. All of Scotland's renewable energy investments are strongly supported by the government and they are welcoming companies that are willing to create jobs and help the country to become the wind energy center of Europe.
Image Credit: Bodoklecksel Wikimedia Commons
Akhila is the Founding Director of GreenDen Consultancy which is dedicated to offering business analysis, reporting and marketing solutions powered by sustainability and social responsibility. Based in the US, Europe, and India, the GreenDen's consultants share the best practices and innovation from around the globe to achieve real results. She has previously written about CSR and ethical consumption for Justmeans and hopes to put a fresh spin on things for this column. As an IEMA certified CSR practitioner, she hopes to highlight a new way of doing business. She believes that consumers have the immense power to change 'business as usual' through their choices. She is a Graduate in Molecular Biology from the University of Glasgow, UK and in Environmental Management and Law. In her free-time she is a voracious reader and enjoys photography, yoga, travelling and the great outdoors. She can be contacted via Twitter @aksvi and also http://www.thegreenden.net
