Scottish wind farms a step closer

Wind farms generating enough power to supply three million homes are now have now taken a step forward after The Crown Estate approved key preliminary bids from power companies including Southern & Scottish Energy (SSE). The Crown Estate owns the seabed in the United Kingdom’s territorial waters (to 12 miles offshore) and has approved ten wind farms at locations including Kintyre, Bell Rock and Islay. Kintyre alone is planned to have 126 turbines over 70 sq km, Islay would have 138 turbines over 93 sq km. But experts have questioned whether the farms will ever be built – the cost of building wind farms is substantially more than conventional power stations – up to six times as much – with additional costs to connect to the National Grid, and wind farms are also unpredictable in terms of the energy produced.