
Uniper has kicked off the construction phase of a 46.2 MW onshore wind farm in East Ayrshire, Scotland.
Working alongside co-development partner Energiekontor UK, actual construction of the unnamed project is expected to start in 2027 with power generation due to begin in 2028.
Once finished, the wind farm will have the capacity to generate power for the equivalent of over 66,000 UK households each year.
In addition, Energiekontor will sell its stake to Uniper, which will become the project’s sole owner.
Once complete, the wind farm will use seven Nordex N163 wind turbines, each with a maximum tip height of 200m and a rotor diameter of 163m.
“Uniper has 230MW of solar projects under development across Europe,” said Uniper UK head of renewables Alex Smethers.
“We are committed to increasing our renewable energy portfolio and are determined to help meet our target to accelerate the energy transition by making our business carbon neutral by 2040.”
The wind farm originally received planning consent from East Ayrshire Council in 2022, with a modification made in 2024 following the submission of plans by Energiekontor UK.
The project also received a contract as part of the UK’s Allocation Round 5 (AR5) in 2023, securing a strike price of £52.2 per MWh.
“We are particularly pleased to have successfully led this first joint project with Uniper to this important milestone. This project marks another valuable addition to the UK‘s growing renewable energy landscape,” said Energiekontor CEO Peter Szabo.
The East Ayrshire wind farm is part of Uniper’s plans to invest around €8 billion (£6.8bn) in decarbonising its operations by the early 2030s.
This includes developing 10 GW of renewable energy capacity across its European portfolio of solar and onshore wind projects.
Among its UK projects is the Humber H2ub (Green) project in Killingholme, North Lincolnshire.