Progress at Clyde Extension as new report shows £108m economic contribution to UK economy

SSE’s 173MW Clyde Extension Wind Farm has seen the first turbine components arriving on site and erection has now commenced.

Construction work on the 54 turbine wind farm began last summer and is expected to be complete mid 2017. The existing Clyde Wind Farm already has 152 turbines.

The first phase of the turbine erection process has begun, with the preassembly crane installing the bottom two tower sections.  Each turbine has four tower sections; a nacelle at the top with a hub and the rotor.

The remainder of each turbine will be erected using the main crane which is scheduled to arrive mid-September and following the complete erection, commissioning works will then be undertaken ahead of generation.

SSE, in conjunction with wind turbine supplier Siemens, has also commissioned a study to investigate the significant impact of Clyde Extension on both the Scottish and UK economies.

Paul Cooley, SSE’s Director of Generation Development, said: “The arrival of the first turbine parts at Clyde Extension is both an important project milestone and gives us the chance to examine further the economic contribution such sites make to our economy in terms of jobs and investment.

“The numbers are impressive as we now know building the windfarm represents a £108m contribution to the UK economy and manufacturing and maintaining the turbines contributes £53m. These windfarms provide a real boost to the local and national economy.”

This level of analysis, undertaken by professional services firm PwC, is ground-breaking in terms of its detail and uncovers an enhanced economic impact for the UK economy that until now has not been understood.  Its five key findings were:

1. The manufacture, installation and servicing of every wind turbine will contribute almost £1m to UK GDP and supports more than 21 years of employment within the UK.
   
   
2. The manufacture, installation and servicing of the 54 turbines at Clyde Extension will contribute £53m and over 1,000 years of supported employment to the UK economy.
   
   
3. The construction phase (which includes development costs; enabling works; environmental surveying; turbine manufacture and installation; electric and engineering costs; civils work; and grid connection) of Clyde Extension will contribute £108.2m to the UK economy and support 1,830 years of employment in the UK.
   
   
4. Approximately 76% of the contribution to UK GDP from the turbines will stay within Scotland, and over 70% of the total UK contribution from construction will stay within Scotland.
   
   
5. Almost 71% of the contribution to UK employment from the turbines will stay within Scotland, and around 74% of the UK employment from the construction phase will be Scottish.

Please note all prices are listed in FY15 prices. The full report can be viewed here.

Clyde Wind Farm (Scotland) Ltd is owned by SSE, Greencoat UK Wind and GLIL.  Further information on the project can be found at www.sse.com/clydeextension