Crystal Rig Wind Farm

Located in an area of cleared commercial forest in the Lammermuir Hills, Crystal Rig Wind Farm lies in the Scottish Borders, immediately to the south of the border with East Lothian, 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Duns and 7½ miles (12 km) south of Dunbar. Commissioned in August 2003, the farm comprises 20 Danish-built Nordex N80 turbines, each capable of generating 2.5 megawatts (MW) of power, giving a total output for the farm is 50 MW, which made this Britain's most powerful wind farm when it was formally opened by Deputy Enterprise Minister Lewis Macdonald on the 24th August 2004. The diameter of the blades is 80m (262 feet) and each turbine is mounted on 60-m (197-feet) high tower, fabricated on the Isle of Lewis.

Resisted by the Lammermuir Protection Group, the farm was always going to be controversial, but the development hit the headlines when a blade sheared off one of the turbines in April 2005. Crystal Rig was extended in 2007 with the addition of a further five Nordex N80 turbines, increasing the capacity to 62.5 MW. In 2010, sixty 2.3 MW Siemens turbines were commissioned, bringing the total capacity of the wind farm to 200.5 MW.

It was developed and is operated by Fred Olsen Renewables, a Norwegian-based energy, oil and gas exploration and shipping company. The farm is run from an automated on-site control building, with the environmental impact of the connection to the electricity grid minimised by the use of underground cables, which lead northwest to connect to the national electricity network at Dunbar substation. The 2010 extension makes use of an dedicated onsite substation.


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