GreenPower Announces Consent Received for Griffin Wind Farm

[January 31st 2008]

GreenPower announced today (31/1/2008), that it has been granted consent by the Scottish Government for the Griffin Wind Farm in Perthshire.

The fourth largest wind farm in Europe, with 68 wind turbines generating up to 204MW, it is predicted that the annual output of the Griffin Wind Farm would be equivalent to the average electricity consumption of 114,000 homes. GreenPower’s Chief Executive, Robert Forrest, said: “This is a milestone for GreenPower and a milestone for Scotland. As an independent Scottish business, this consent represents a major step forward for us and will underpin significant growth in our business over the next three years. With climate change so high on the national agenda, we are delighted to be able to make a significant contribution to meeting the Scottish Government’s renewable energy target.

” The Griffin project was originally submitted for consent to the Scottish Government in 2004 and was the subject of a Public Inquiry in 2006. Commenting about more than three years of community consultations and stakeholder dialogue, Robert Forrest said “Our team has been committed throughout the development of this project to communicating and engaging with local people. Moving forward, we hope that we can work closely with the local communities during construction and indeed over the lifetime of the project.

” Construction of the Griffin Wind Farm is expected to start in late 2008 and be operating by summer of 2010. Construction will equate to some £200 million worth of contracts. Approximately 1/3 of this could be spent within the local economy of Perthshire and Scotland. There will be 12 staff employed to undertake operation and maintenance duties and 2 full time rangers employed to support land management and environmental education activities for the lifetime of the project.

GreenPower is also developing a number of other new wind and hydro projects across the UK and has two other projects awaiting consent, at Carraig Gheal in Argyll and at Broadmeadows in the Scottish Borders.