Cloud Hill Wind Farm

About the Project 

The application is for a wind farm of 11 turbines, each with a maximum tip height of up to 180 m. The turbines will be co-located with a battery energy storage system (BESS). Other infrastructure onsite will include a substation and control room, access tracks, a temporary construction compound, and a permanent met mast of up to 100 m.

Key Facts

• 11 x 6 MW turbines;
• Turbine height 180m ground to tip;
• Capacity over 60 MW;
• Potential to generate electricity for over 59,000 households*; 
• Over £10 million in community funds over 35 years of operation;
• The site is located out with any environmental designations or protected landscapes;
• Bespoke Biodiversity Enhancement Plan to improve local ecology and peatlands;
• With a grid connection of 2028, the project will contribute to Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy targets of 20 GW onshore wind.

Design Process

An EIA scoping exercise and consultation with community councils and the public took place throughout 2022 and 2023. Since scoping, the number of turbines has been was reduced by three, from 14 to 11. The location of the remaining turbines was shaped through an iterative design process to  minimise visibility and environmental impact.  This included using the existing onsite access tracks to minimise the footprint of the wind farm.

Feedback from consultations with the public, community councils and organisations such as Nature Scot, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and Dumfries & Galloway Council have helped shaped the final design. 

Community Benefits 

BayWa r.e UK is committed to supporting communities that neighbour our wind farm developments. In many cases this support takes the form of an annual community fund which can provide a valuable, long term, sustainable, and reliable source of income for communities.

This flexible funding can be used to address what is important to communities with the potential to fund large and small projects as well as capital, and harder to fund revenue activities. There is also significant potential for this private sector funding to be used to lever additional match funding making it worth even more to the community.

A community benefit package of £5,000 per installed MW will be offered annually for the life of the Cloud Hill Wind Farm. This is estimated to be £308,000 per year index linked, totalling over £10m across the 35-year operation period.

Local Business Register

A range of services are required during the construction and operational phases of a project and the Cloud Hill Wind Farm presents opportunities for local businesses with the right skills and services. If you are interested in working with us, get in touch by emailing CloudHillWindfarm(at)baywa-re.co.uk to be added to our Local Suppliers Database. 

Engaging with the Community 

The development team at BayWa r.e. has undertaken extensive public consultation throughout the Cloud Hill development phase. Our aim has been to ensure the views of local people have been considered in the design of the wind farm and everyone in the local area is aware of the application.

Public consultation has included exhibitions, and regular meetings with the Community Councils of Royal Burgh of Sanquhar; Kelloholm and Kirkconnel, and Penpont. A dedicated project website provided regular updates throughout the development phase. Newsletters were also distributed to the local community at key stages.

*Calculated using the most recent statistics from DESNZ showing that annual GB average domestic household consumption is 3,509kWh (as of December 2022, updated annually): number of megawatts installed, multiplied by a site specific load factor expressed as a fraction of 1, multiplied by number of hours in a year, divided by average annual domestic electricity consumption expressed in MWh.