A dry (almost) day today so I took the opportunity to visit Whitelee Windfarm on Eaglesham Moor.
Turbine Blade at Entrance to Whitelee Windfarm Visitor Centre
As built during 2008/09 it was the largest onshore windfarm in Europe at 322MWe with the turbine stretching across a 10 mile area of Eaglesham Moor. An extension of another 217MWe is currently being installed. When the wind is blowing (providing it is not blowing too much) that is just a bit less that the output of one of the units at Scottish Power’s Longannet coal fired power station on the Forth.
Looking at the blades of turbine 40.
As part of the initial construction a Visitor Centre was built which can be reached from junction 5 of the M77, which runs south from Glasgow to Kilmarnock. This gives access to the trails around the windfarm, for walking, cycling and horseriding. The visitor centre also has an exhibition about wind generation and a cafe.
Depending on the weather, it can be a nice day out for safely walking across Eaglesham Moor, which previously was not possible due to uncharted bogs.
For my visit the all the turbines appeared to be turning, and the wind did not appear to be too excessive, and the rain kept away. However Eaglesham Moor is known for its gales and as is typical in the west of Scotland, it can get very wet.
Caterpillar in the Car Park of Whitlelee Windfarm visitor centre
As a postscript, when I was walking back into the car park I noticed this caterpillar crossing the access road.
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