East Ayrshire wind farm gets green light

Banks Renewables has secured approval to build a wind farm that will feature the tallest turbines granted planning permission in Scotland to date.The Scottish government has approved the plans for Lethans Wind Farm, east of New Cumnock in East Ayrshire. Banks Renewals had revised the plans to maximise the supply of electricity.Approval means Lethans’ 22 turbines, with maximum tip height of 220m, will have a maximum output of up to 105.6MW.When it lodged the original plan in 2015, Banks Renewables had valued the construction costs at an estimated £105m with a potential £21m to form local contracts. The original plan for Lethans Wind Farm was approved in March 2018. However, Banks Renewables undertook an extensive redesign of the project to maximise efficiency, including reducing the number of turbines from 26 to 22 and changing the layout of the wind farm. To reflect those changes, the company submitted a Section 36 planning application to the Scottish government’s Energy Consents & Deployment Unit, which has now been fully approved.Hamilton-based Banks Renewables has worked closely with local independent renewable energy consultant and service provider Natural Power on the project.Banks Renewables has adopted a charter that is expected to see at least £16m in invested in the area via local suppliers and contractors.Among the benefits Lethans will bring will be a £1.3m skills and training fund targeted to support up to 440 local, unemployed people to get into work or training. The project will also pay £38m in business rates over its lifetime – while a local community body will have the opportunity to purchase a 5% equity stake in the wind farm with a 25% community discount.