The text below is the transcript from the '6 WHITELEE VISITOR CENTRE' video. An audio-described version of the video is also available.
Video Title: 6 WHITELEE VISITOR CENTRE
LAURA: Hi, I'm Laura Young, also known as Less Waste Laura, and for the past couple of years, I've been trying to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle and advocate for climate justice. I've been on a journey around the amazing Whitelee Wind Farm, learning about the future of our energy and the net zero debate from its concept and construction through to learning about how important onshore wind is for net zero. I've also just been visiting the ecologists, finding out about the natural habitat around here on peatland restoration. I'm now off to the visitor centre to find out how Whitelee is an important part of the local community.
Hi, Siobhan, I'm Laura. Can I sit here?
SIOBHAN: Absolutely. Nice to meet you.
LAURA: Nice to meet you too. How are you doing?
SIOBHAN: I’m alright. How’s your day been so far?
LAURA: It’s been so good. It’s lovely in here.
SIOBHAN: It’s a great spot, isn’t it? We're often find investors are really surprised at how much more that us to Wheatley than just a wind farm. We find people are traveling here from all over.
LAURA: Why do you think it's so popular?
SIOBHAN: I think it's just a really unique day out. I mean, the wind farm itself provides so much space for fresh air and exercise. Families on a day out, people walking their dogs, endurance runners, cyclists, horse riders, and then you've got the café. So, you can come in here for coffee and lunch, which is so welcome in the unpredictable Scottish weather. People can learn about one farm and about renewable energy. And the exhibit, which has just been refreshed. And then obviously there's free parking space for electric vehicles under the charging of sites.
LAURA: I've been here so many times, bringing my dog, going for a cycle, but I remember I was here on a school visit.
SIOBHAN: You know, I'm not that surprised. And a typical year, we have over 5000 school people here attending the education program, and that includes a hands-on activities and the education help, but it also includes a separate one to the one farm to just get up close to a turbine and the Glasgow Science Centre, who manage the V.C on their behalf, developed and they deliver that program. And as an independent charity who work to encourage young people into science careers, some really good partnership.
LAURA: Amazing. There's one person I do know who visits every year at that centre, and that’s Santa.
SIOBHAN: Yeah, absolutely. So the visitor centre is part of the community, and every year we turn the building and the outside into Santa Grotto and Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive on their slay.
LAURA: That's fantastic. How else does the community benefit from the wind farm?
SIOBHAN: Well, there's 200,000 people a year using the wind farm for recreation. But the benefits go far beyond this boundary. I mean that as a supply chain connected with the operation of the wind farm. But we also provides a community benefit fund for community organizations and the surrounding area. ScottishPower renewables have provided over £43,000,000 in community benefit across the UK, and Whitelee has provided well over £12,000,000 of that. So that goes to community organizations and South Lanarkshire, East Renfrewshire, East Ayrshire.
LAURA: That is a lot of money. What kind of stuff does that go towards?
SIOBHAN: Well loads of things, the community upgrades to buildings to make them more energy efficient. So solar panels, upgraded boilers, insulation, that kind of thing. We also have accessibility improvements for providing local busses for local groups and improvements outdoor play parks. There's even been the creation of sustainable community hub and farm shop to promote local projects.
LAURA: Thank you so much, Siobhan, for all of this. I had no idea there was so much going on here at Whitelee. I can't wait to learn more. Thank you.
It's great to hear just how involved ScottishPower renewables are with the community. And when I have been out on the wind farm in the past, I often see the country rangers vehicles, and I really want to know what they do.
Hi, Kate.
KATE: Hi, how are you?
LAURA: Nice to meet you.
KATE: Nice to meet you too.
LAURA: I was wondering, could you tell me what Ranger does at Whitelee?
KATE: Yeah, sure. We have a very varied role here at Whitelee. I think our main focus here is to promote responsible outdoor access, trying to get people, visitors and members of the public to come up and experience all the great outdoor opportunities that we have up here at Whitelee.
LAURA: That’s so good. And what kind of community engagement stuff do you do up here?
KATE: We do formal educational sessions for schools. So things like from nursery all the way up to university level and beyond. Some more informal stuff, maybe with uniform groups and different interest groups that come along. And then we have a varied Ranger event program throughout the year as well. So that can be anything from sort of arts and crafts, guided walks and nature identification all the way to then building late cycles and a crazy Halloween event that we do each year just to scare everyone off at the end of the year as well. So that’s good fun as well.
LAURA: What about some of the day to day stuff that you also get up to?
KATE: Just making sure things are safe and things as well. So we do a lot of practical maintenance tasks. So we do things like fixing and installing, like the benches that you might see in a bay or maybe the finger posts that show you the different directions to go, letter packing and things as well. Just keeping the place nice and safe and a clean and tidy and a nice place for people to come and visit.
LAURA: Thank you so much, and to all the Rangers for the community engagement, unsafety stuff that you do. I was just wondering, do you do any tours?
KATE: Yeah, sure. The bus tours will start over in that direction. The busses over there.
LAURA: Amazing. Thank you.
KATE: No problem. Bye.
LAURA: I often see the Whitelee electric tour bus. But, I've never been on it before.
Hi there. Is this the bus tour?
BUS DRIVER: It certainly is.
LAURA: Fantastic. Can I come on board?
BUS DRIVER: Certainly can.
LAURA: Oh, amazing. How many tours do you do a day?
BUS DRIVER: Well, at the moment, we’re doing four. Half past ten, half past eleven, half past 0ne, and half past two.
LAURA: Fantastic. I'll jump on
BUS DRIVER: No problem.
LAURA: It's an amazing bus, fully accessible for wheelchairs, prams and even my bike, and just like any electric vehicle, it's silent. This is a great way to see the turbines with the miles of roads going past the bases of these huge machines. If you want to see the wind farm, this is a great way to do it. I'd highly recommend it.
Well, thank you so much. That was great.
BUS DRIVER: No problem.
LAURA: See you later.
BUS DRIVER: Bye.
LAURA: It really does seem that Whitelee is at the heart of the local community here. Amazing, because it's an operational wind farm. But just a few years ago, it was a forested Maryland with hardly any visitors. On my journey, I've grown in appreciation of just how much hard work goes into developing, constructing, and operating this place. I've also learned just how important renewables and onshore wind is in our journey to net zero and also the care that ScottishPower, renewables and to caring for the environment here and engaging with the community that live nearby. I guess that just leaves me with one question. What really is the future for onshore wind? Join me on my final leg of this journey as I find out more.