The text below is the transcript from the '2A WHITELEE WINDFARM OPERATIONS' video. An audio-described version of the video is also available.
Video Title: 2A WHITELEE WINDFARM OPERATIONS
LAURA: Hi, I'm Laura Young, also known as Less Waste Laura, and for the past few years, I've tried to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle and advocate for climate justice. I'm journeying around the amazing Whitelee Wind Farm to learn more about the future of our energy and the net zero debate, I've just met Dr. Sam Gardiner, who explained net zero and why action against climate change is needed now. But I want to know how Whitelee came about and who better to tell me than the person that built it, and I'm meeting him at one of the highest points on the wind farm. I hope my bike copes with this hill.
Hi, Stuart, how are you doing?
STUART: Hi Laura, I'm fine, thanks. How are you?
LAURA: I'm good. Fancy a wee chat?
STUART: Yeah, sure.
LAURA: Great. It's great to meet the person that built Whitelee.
STUART: Well, the person that built Whitelee was quite a number of people built Whitelee, but I was the project manager for the original phase of the project. Quite some time ago now. We started in 2006. So, you're testing my memory banks.
LAURA: And 2006, is that when the construction started?
STUART: Exactly. That's when we placed the contracts and put the first spade in the ground on site. But the project was conceived long before that. Before the year 2000, they started engaging with the landowners and undertaking the ecological surveys etc. The planning application was submitted in 2002. For a project of the scale you can imagine there's a lot of questions that various people have to ask. And the consent wasn't granted until 2006.
LAURA: What are the things that you have to do before you can participate in the ground?
STUART: Well, you have to undertake a number of ecological environmental surveys and noise surveys and have them all approved by all the relevant bodies and the local authorities. So, Whitelee Wind Farm spanned three local authority boundaries, so we had to work with all of these local authorities, as well and the various consultees, and then plus the technical side of things to design exactly how we're going to leave the roads and where we're going to excavate the foundations and leave the cables and locate the substation, etc. Loads of moving parts. And right now we're at the viewpoint. So you can kind of see the whole of Glasgow.
LAURA: But why did you choose to build a wind farm here?
STUART: Well, first and foremost, it's a good one resource, and we have the land that we need. But equally, close ascension of population, close to access to grid and close to road infrastructure.
LAURA: And for Scottish power, had they taken on anything the scale of this before?
STUART: Back then, of course, ScottishPower wasn't 100% green. So, to take on a project of this scale and something that was, you know, relatively new, to build a 320 megawatt wind farm. Now 539 megawatts with the extra Whitelee extension that was built, just was a fantastic commitment and showed that that was the way forward for the company.
LAURAT: So, has Whitelee changed over time?
STUART: Well, yes. I mean, obviously, we talked about phase one, which started construction in 2006 and completed in 2009. Phase two was all in planning for one year. So that was fairly quick through the process Whitelee extension. Construction there started in 2010. That was completed in 2013. And of course, the story doesn't end there because we're constructing a battery at the substation at the other end of site. We have plans in place for hydrogen and solar on the site as well.
LAURA: And was the construction of last place easy?
STUART: Easy? No, it took a lot of planning, a lot of preparation. The growing conditions were very challenging, a lot of peat on the site. So, we had to construct the roads as floating roads, which meant you have to lay the road over the top of the vegetation. And we also had an ecological clerk of works on site who was always walking ahead of the project to check if there was anything to be aware of in terms of wildlife or other ecology that we should try and mitigate any impact.
LAURA: Was there any interesting wildlife things that kind of popped up in the course of doing this?
STUART: Yes. And one good example was a pair of breeding marlin that an ecologic clerk of works came across, which meant we had to set up a 500 meter exclusion zone around them and all works in that area had to stop until such time as they had fledged and left the nest and they successfully did that. So, it was a great story. And we managed to incorporate that into our overall project program.
LAURA: I'll be cycling across the whole wind farm. Do you have a favourite place?
STUART: I don't know if you have a favourite, but if I were constructing it, up on the highest points on site, it's called Corse Hill. And we were standing up there, lovely, clear day, and we could see the whole of Glasgow. It was incredible to see the whole of Glasgow from here. So that means all of Glasgow can see us. But I don't think that's a bad thing. You get great views of Whitelee from various parts of Glasgow in the west of Scotland. And, you know, I'm very proud of the whole of the company is very proud of it. It stood the test of time, as we just talked about, diversifying into other technologies. And, yeah, it's a real focal point for us and the renewables industry.
LAURA: I love being down in town and being able to point out and say, yep, that big wind farm that's where I live. How do you feel being here? It's 2021. The construction's well over. How do you feel walking around it?
STUART: Oh, still very proud of what we have achieved. I mean, it took a lot of hard work from a lot of people to get to the stage. But the fact that it is, as we say, it's still our focal point. Our flagship project is fantastic.
LAURA: That's brilliant. I'm ready to go and meet Joe and Mark to find out a bit more about what it takes to operate and really run this place. I'm going to turbine 48. Do you know where that is?
STUART: Yes, from memory turbine 48 should be just over that way. But they will take you a little while to get there.
LAURA: OK, see you later.
STUART: Cheerio.
LAURA: It takes a lot of hard work and experience to keep a place like this moving at its full potential. Join me next time as I meet the people whose job is to keep the turbines starting.