A plan for 12 giant turbines next to the scenic Rhinns of Kells Range has sparked fierce debate. Galloway has dozens of windfarms already. Controversy over their construction has often blown over amid an acceptance of the need for clean green energy.

General UK

Plans for 12 turbines as tall as 250 miles would be "horrendous" according to Gatehouse and District Walking Group

General UK

The feed-in-tariff was designed to support small-scale onshore renewable projects, but was scrapped at the end of last month. Now Mountwest has applied to the council to extend the duration of their planning permission in an effort to find alternative funding.

General UK

A verbal agreement had been reached between the seven community councils in Teviot and Liddesdale over division of the community benefit fund, set up after approval was given for the 12-turbine Pines Burn wind farm near Bonchester Bridge. That fund, believed to be worth up to £120,000 a year for the next 25 years, was to be divided equally between the community councils, with Hobkirk set to get a double share because of its proximity to the development.

General UK

But in November, energy, planning and rural affairs secretary Ms Griffiths decided to give the turbines the go-ahead. Although she accepted the wind farm would have "a significant impact" on the monuments, she disagreed with the inspector's conclusions. Focusing on the pressing need for on-shore renewable energy sources, she said there were "exceptional circumstances" justifying the development.

General UK

The Watson family, whose links to minister Nomvula Mokonyane were exposed during explosive testimony at the Zondo Commission on State Capture, want to build a controversial wind farm in the Eastern Cape. And the minister on whose decision their plans depend is … Mokonyane.

General UK

The Scottish Government has vowed to convene a summit after issues over fairness were exposed in the Moray East offshore wind farm contract procurement process. It comes after troubled Scottish firm Burntisland Fabrication (BiFab) was overlooked in favour of two foreign rivals.

General UK

Residents have vowed to fight plans for a major windfarm in a designated regional scenic area near Teviothead. Community Windpower revealed plans last year for a 45-turbine wind farm to straddle the Borders-Dumfries and Galloway border at Faw Side.

General UK

"Technical breaches” of planning conditions are allegedly taking place at the Hendy Wind Farm development at Llandegley, near Llandrindod Wells, but nothing is being done about it yet. Powys County Council (PCC) has admitted it is aware of the claims as it said that a “live investigation is open” on the development.

General UK

Proposals for the £8m development, consisting of seven turbines up to 132m tall at Barrel Law, near Roberton, were thrown out by Scottish Borders Council’s planning committee in September. German-based ABO Wind has now submitted an appeal to Holyrood’s planning and environmental appeals division.

General UK

Once these wind turbines reach the end of their limited lifespan, the challenge is how to continue using the structures, which are often costly to build. ...reusing the foundation generally requires more construction materials and disturbs the soil as much as a new foundation, meaning it is necessary to weigh the benefit of having turbines that can generate more power against the possible land disturbance they can cause.

General UK

Dumfries and Galloway Council rejected the 12-turbine Hopsrig project near Langholm. It concluded that the impact on the setting in the Eskdale valley meant the scheme should not proceed.

General UK

Hundreds of people have signed a petition against plans for a major windfarm near Penpont. Sanquhar II Community Windfarm would see 50 turbines built on the site, designed to extend the existing development to the north.

General UK

This small increase was reflected in its power generation figures, as renewables produced 6.2TWh between 1 January and 30 September in 2017, and 6.3TWh this year. However, Innogy explained that "particularly low wind levels, especially in the second and third quarters of 2018 in the UK and Germany, led to reduced utilisation of existing plants".

General Germany UK

Fred Olsen Renewables wants to build seven new turbines, six of which will be nearly 500ft tall, at Paul’s Hill near Knockando. ...members of Moray Council’s planning committee unanimously agreed to write to ministers to object to the plans due to the impact they would have on the local environment.

General UK

A contractor for a major Moray Firth windfarm project has been accused of shutting out UK workers in favour of “cheap foreign labour”. Contracts seen by Energy Voice indicate a number of non-EU nationals on Seaway Heavy Lifting’s (SHL’s) Stanislav Yudin crane vessel have been earning below the national minimum wage.

General UK

Workers hired to build the flagship £2.6bn Beatrice offshore windfarm in Scotland have included migrants without proper immigration documents paid a fraction of the UK minimum wage, the Guardian can reveal.

General UK

I’ve argued that the company getting the go-ahead should be conditional on them undertaking a risk assessment, sharing that with the climbing community and then agreeing a risk management plan.” A spokeswoman from Glenmore Lodge, Scotland’s National Outdoor Training Centre said the area is “utilised by both teaching groups and individuals”.

General UK

The company behind the plans, ABO Wind UK, has faced opposition from residents, community councils and Scottish Borders councillors ever since it first announced its intention to develop the site in 2012. ...“This approach is debilitating for fragile communities being worn down by commercial enterprises that bring financial muscle to a process destined to create overproliferation, landscape desecration and wind turbine blight in a naturally beautiful area of the Borders.

General UK

This week Malcolm Mahony, the reporter appointed by ministers, overturned the rejection, finding that the project’s benefits outweighed any impacts on landscape or tourism. He said: “It would have localised and limited impacts on landscape and visual amenity and on archaeological assets.

General UK