Westfield
On 20 September 2011 members of Fife Council planning committee approved the 5-turbine, 12.5MW wind farm on the former Westfield open-cast coal site near Kinglassie, giving the green light for a scheme which will deliver clean renewable energy, create local jobs, deliver a community benefit package and create momentum for the future redevelopment of the site. Approval for the site was granted subject to a legal agreement being entered into to ensure that funds are set aside to facilitate the decommissioning of the wind farm.
Infinis submitted a planning application to Fife Council in July 2009 for the wind farm. The application included an Environmental Statement containing the results of the Environmental Impact Assessment undertaken for the wind turbines on the site. Further technical documents were submitted to Fife Council to address consultee responses. A Non-Technical Summary of the Environmental Statement can be accessed below.
The site lies within a former opencast colliery site approximately 2km west of the village of Kinglassie. The 57 hectare site of the proposed wind farm is currently disused. The wind farm will comprise five turbines with a maximum hub height of 70m and a maximum height to blade tip of 110m. Other items that will form part of the wind farm are a 70m high meteorological mast, crane hardstandings beside each wind turbine, an electrical substation and control building and access tracks. Existing tracks on the site will be upgraded wherever possible. The electrical cables for the wind farm and the connection to an existing off-site substation will be underground.
Infinis will now work with Fife Council to finalise the legal agreement. Prior to commencement of construction, Infinis will further investigate ground conditions at the site and start the procurement process for the construction of the wind farm. Further updates will be provided once a programme for construction is finalised.
The generating capacity of the wind farm will be a maximum of 12.5MW. The maximum capacity, adjusted to allow for variations in wind speed, could generate the equivalent of the annual average electricity use of around 6,500 UK households, based on an average capacity factor of 26.9%*.
If you are interested in the plans for Westfield wind farm or have any comments or queries, you can contact us at: westfieldwindfarm@infinis.com. Alternatively our general contact details can be found above.
* This calculation is based on the UK average onshore wind capacity factor of 26.9% (taken from Table 7.4 in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2010, DUKES, 2010, for data in 2009) and an average GB household electricity consumption in 2009 of 4,423kWh (taken from the Sub-National Electricity Consumption Data 2009 published by DECC) which leads to a calculation of the equivalent electricity consumption of 6,500 (for 12.5MW) households (rounded down to the nearest 500 households). It should be noted that the equivalent household electricity consumption calculated will vary depending on site wind speeds and actual household electricity consumption.
