Our aims
Skelmonae Windfarm aims to generate clean, renewable electricity from onshore wind turbines, to supply the National Grid.
The Scottish Government has set the ambitious target of reducing carbon emissions by 75% by 2030, and by 90% by 2040, with the aim of reaching net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045.
By 2030 ministers want renewable energy to supply 50% of all energy demand in Scotland, not only for electricity, but also heat and transport.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also said in March 2022 , that the need to remove dependency on Russian oil and gas is accelerating the green transition. She stated, “For Scotland, the big imperative for environmental reasons, but also I think now for geo-security reasons, is to make sure we are moving to renewable, low-carbon sources of energy even more quickly than we had previously planned”.
Presently, Scotland is a net exporter of electricity to England and Northern Ireland. The UK has a growing requirement for electricity and its fossil fuel supplies are dwindling.
As recently as 2012, coal accounted for 40 per cent of the UK’s power generation, which fell to 25 per cent in 2015 and just 2 per cent by 2019. Many coal-fired power stations have been closed in recent years and only two presently remain operational in the UK, both of which are scheduled to begin the decommissioning process in 2022. The UK intends to end the use of coal power completely by 2024.
Land area and turbine dimensions
The four turbines erected at Skelmonae Windfarm take up a total land area of under one acre. Each turbine has a 50 metre tower and the blades are 24m long, with a maximum rotation speed of 32 RPM.
Three more turbines are situated at the nearby Hill of Skilmafilly Windfarm. Two of these have 57 metre towers, while one has a 64m tower, and all of the blades are 35m long, with a maximum rotation speed of 21.5 RPM.
The technology we’ve used
The most up to date turbines available have been supplied for this project by Enercon of Germany.
The turbine blades automatically “feather” into the wind, depending on wind direction, to control speed and noise. They shut down completely if the force of the wind would cause the maximum rotation speed to be exceeded. There are also multiple fail-safe mechanisms built into the design, which automatically stop the turbines in the event of power failure or vibration, e.g. if ice were to build up on the blades.
Unfortunately, there is presently no Scottish supplier of wind turbines, although a variety of local companies are involved in the construction and operation of the windfarm.
As they are adjacent, Skelmonae and Hill of Skilmafilly are able to share one electricity sub-station, which contains separate metering for each windfarm.
Connection to the National Grid is via the main Ellon/Methlick 33KV power line and has been carried out by Scottish and Southern Energy, using a combination of overhead line and underground cable. The land that the cable crosses has already been repaired and returned to its previous condition.