A WIND farm capable of generating enough electricity to power 3,000 homes will start operation on the north-east coast of Scotland this month.
The site near Wick is the first of four projects to be delivered in the area by Edinburgh-based wind turbine supplier REpower UK.
The company, which is owned by the German renewables giant REpower Systems, has been contracted to supply 72 wind tu
rbines to the northern Highlands by 2010.
It is estimated the turbines will contribute enough electricity to the grid to supply 80,000 homes, providing a major boost to the Scottish Government's target of sourcing 50% of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
The four projects, worth a combined ?160m (£141m) to REpower UK, include three contracts for Scottish and Southern Energy, which is planning wind farms near Lairg, Brora and Marybank. The Wick farm has been funded by the London-based Climate Change Capital group for local landowners James and Ronald Innes.
Henning von Barsewisch, managing director of REpower UK, said the opening of the Wick farm later this month would mark the beginning of a significant expansion for the company, which opened its headquarters in Edinburgh in 2003.
It has around 25 turbines in operation in Scotland but will be close to surpassing 100 by next year. Barsewisch said the company had several more contracts in the pipeline and would shortly open a service centre in the Highlands. REpower currently employs 60 staff around the UK, 40 in Scotland, and it plans to grow its Scottish staff by a further 10 full-time positions this year.
Von Barsewisch, who was tipped by Scotland on Sunday as one of the nine executives "to watch" in 2009, said: "Renewable energy is one of a few industries which is still growing and this presents good economic opportunities for the area."
Between 2008 and 2009 REpower UK, which supplies wind turbines manufactured by its parent company in Germany, generated ?80m turnover. Last week it announced it was poised to reach 300MW of wind energy generation throughout the UK, which is enough to power 168,000 British homes.
The company has supplied around 123 turbines to sites in England and Wales.
"While reaching 300 MW in the UK is a very good achievement, there is still a lot to do to meet our own ambitions and the renewable energy targets set by local and national government," Von Barsewisch said.
