Assel Valley Wind Farm
South Ayrshire

Project

Case study

Type:
Wind Farm

Status:
Operational

Owner:
Nadra

Overlooking Ailsa Craig, Assel Valley is part-owned by the Assel Valley Community Renewables Society who raised £1m to acquire a stake in 2019.

Turbines

The wind farm comprises ten GE Nordex N90-2.5MW turbines, each with a rotor diameter of 90m and maximum tip height of 110m.

Maximum generating capacity is 25 Megawatts.

Landowners

Turbines are built on land leased from three local farmers and land has also been leased from a further landowner for public highway upgrades along the access route.

2016

Commissioining

The wind farm was commissioned in September 2016 and is expected to be operational for 25-35 years.

Overview

Assel Valley wind farm was built on agricultural land around 4km south east of Girvan in South Ayrshire. The project comprises ten Nordex N90-2.5MW turbines with a total generating capacity of 25MW. Access is taken off the A714 just to the north of Pinmore along the Dinvin Road which leads directly to the site entrance.

Timeline

The planning application for the project was submitted in May 2011 (Ref: 11/00564/APPM) and, following the failure of South Ayrshire Council to determine this, consent was granted by Scottish Ministers in September 2013.

Construction by our partners Falck Renewables (now Nadara) began in 2015 and the project was commissioned in September 2016. A community shared ownership stake was made available in conjunction with Energy4All, and Assel Valley Community Renewables Society (which currently has over 230 members) took a stake in the project in 2019.

Community

A community fund for the project, managed by Foundation Scotland, was set up to benefit the residents of Blackwood, Kirkmuirhill and Boghead. This has been used to support a wide range of local initiatives, including funding for a part-time Community Development Officer and the Better Connected Community Café in Kirkmuirhall.

The Auchrobert Community Energy Society also allocates a proportion of its income to providing social and environmental benefits to people local to the wind farm, a recent example of which being the provision of plants for a sensory garden at McKirdy Park.

Location

55° 13′ 22″ North, 4° 48′ 39″ West

The impact

What is being delivered

million kWh/year

On average, the wind farm generates around 70.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year. Enough charge 3,300 electric cars a day.

Based on a rolling average load factor of 32.1% to November 2024 and an electric car battery capacity of 58kwh (as found in a Tesla Model 3 or VW ID3)

Homes powered

The output from the wind farm is enough to meet the electricity needs of 21,700 average UK households.

Based on a rolling average load factor of 32.1% to November 2024 and DESNZ Subnational Electricity and Gas Consumption Statistics statistics showing that annual GB average domestic household consumption is 3,239kWh (updated January 2024).

Minutes

In high winds, the wind farm produces enough electricity to power an average UK home for a year less than 8 minutes.

Based on DESNZ Subnational Electricity and Gas Consumption Statistics statistics showing that annual GB average domestic household consumption is 3,239kWh (updated January 2024)

Tonnes of CO2 saved to date

The CO2 emissions saved by the wind farm are equivalent to planting 1,200,000 trees, or to removing over 20,000 cars from the road.

Based on:

DESNZ's “all non-renewable fuels” emissions statistic of 437 tonnes of carbon dioxide per GWh of electricity supplied in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (July 2024) Table 5.14 (“Estimated carbon dioxide emissions from electricity supplied”)
DfT's NTS0901 statistic (August 2024) of an average diesel car covering 8,300 miles per year and manufacturer's published emissions data for a VW Golf 2.0 TDi of 115g/km
EcoTree estimate that a typical tree absorbs 25kg CO2 per year