Plans announced by ScottishPower Renewables (SPR), part of the Spanish Iberdrola group, could mean Whitelee generating enough energy to power the equivalent of 650,000 homes - 300,000 more than currently - helping keep bills down long-term.
Over the ten years of development and construction, it is estimated the project will generate £330 million of Gross Value Added (GVA) for the Scottish economy.
In a landmark development for the energy sector, ScottishPower Renewables is committing to ensuring the community is involved in the project through potential ownership opportunities and an enlarged community benefit fund
Whitelee is located on the Eaglesham Moor in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, although the majority of its turbines are located in East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. It has contributed £20 million so far to East Renfrewshire, East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire Councils via community benefit, and the new plans will mean increased financial benefit – anticipated to be around £5 million every year.
The plans announced today are on top of ScottishPower’s record £24 billion investment plan to 2028, which is also supporting record supply chain spend - over £1 billion in the first half of 2026 alone - with 76 percent in companies located in the UK.
Alongside UK contract opportunities, a multi-ports strategy for delivery of turbines and other components will mean further economic benefit Scotland-wide.
As well as the £1.5 billion investment to expand and repower the windfarm, there will also be continued investment over 40 years for the operation and maintenance of the site.
“Whitelee is one of the largest onshore windfarms in Europe and the jewel in the UK’s renewables crown, powering Greater Glasgow and beyond with clean, green power for almost two decades” said Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables Chief Executive. “We want to build on the existing success of our windfarms before they reach the end of their natural lifespan and we lose the benefit of their clean power capacity Whitelee can set the repowering standard, unlocking the continued potential of existing infrastructure. It also means re-benefitting communities with direct financial benefit as well as a fantastic opportunity for partial community ownership. At this critical moment in the push for home-grown clean, green energy, it’s important we don’t go in reverse and lose the clean capacity that’s been hard earned over the last two decades as it comes to the end of its operational life. Retaining and increasing the output from Whitelee is good news for the UK and Scotland, good news for jobs and good news for the community and economy.”
The repowering proposals will see fewer but more modern, larger powered turbines across the site, with a reduction to 124 turbines around 250 metres in height, taking capacity from 539 megawatts to 1gigawatt.
Whitelee has become a national treasure and hugely popular with the public. The habitat restoration and accessibility put in place when first built meant the former, mostly-wild, moorland has become a beloved community asset for local dog-walkers, runners and nature lovers, as well as being a favoured educational trip destination for schools throughout Scotland.
The work is being carried out in three phases, with the aim of maintaining public access to parts of the site throughout the project, subject to health and safety requirements, and ultimately ensuring continued open access for generations to come.
Whitelee was originally commissioned in 2008 and consisted of 140 turbines when it was opened to the public by the then First Minister for Scotland Alex Salmond in 2009. Since then, the windfarm has undergone two phases of extensions with the phase 1 extension adding 36 turbines to the development and phase 2 adding a further 39, taking the total to 215, manufactured by Siemens and Alstom.
The scale and length of time covered by the development and construction phase will give the supply chain the confidence to invest in new equipment and jobs, delivering a more resilient UK supply chain.
ScottishPower Renewables has been working closely with landowners, including Forestry Land Scotland and Scottish Water, to secure the future of the site for generations to come.
The site currently covers an area of approximately 83 square kilometres and straddles East Renfrewshire, East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire council areas. The plans, which include a new substation, have now been lodged with the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit and will be published online in the coming weeks.
A planning application is set to be submitted in December 2027, and it would be planned to be operational by 2035.
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