The Proposal

Location Map An Suidhe Wind Farm is located five miles west of Inveraray. It became operational in January 2011. It consists of 23 turbines with a maximum installed capacity of up to 19.3 megawatts (MW) producing enough green electricity to meet the average demands of 10,400 homes^FN1.

Construction for An Suidhe Wind Farm began in January 2009. RWE npower renewables took control of developing the consented An Suidhe wind farm in May 2005. It was originally proposed in 1995 by another developer and received consent following a public inquiry in 2003.

In April 2008, RWE npower renewables submitted to Argyll and Bute Council, a variation to the original number of turbines, reducing it from 24 to 23, and increasing the hub height from 50m to 56m, as well as extending the project's switch-on date to 31 March 2011.

It is an excellent location for a wind farm and was chosen because it benefits from:

• High wind speeds
• It is outside International, National and Highland Council designation for landscape and ecology
• No dwellings near the site
• Close to electricity grid
• It has good road access via the nearby A83

Footnote
Energy predicted to be generated by the proposal is derived using wind speeds monitored in the local area and correlating to a Met Office station providing longer term data. This enables a calculation to be made to estimate the average annual energy production for the site based on 23 turbines totalling a capacity of 19.3MW. The energy capture predicted and hence derived homes equivalent or emissions savings figures may change as further data are gathered.
 
Equivalent homes supplied is based on an annual electricity consumption per home of 4700 kWh. This figure is supported by recent domestic electricity consumption data available from The Digest of UK Energy Statistics and household estimates and projections from the UK Statistics Authority.