Enoch Hill

Enoch Hill is located in East Ayrshire near to the village of New Cumnock. Image for illustrative purposes only

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History of the Project

The 15 turbine site is located in East Ayrshire near to the village of New Cumnock. This project is close to our other developments in the area, including Lorg. When built, it will be capable of producing up to 80MW of electricity.

Since launching its proposals, RWE Renewables (formerly E.ON Climate & Renewables) has worked closely with the community and undertaken extensive consultation to understand local concerns. RWE Renewables will continue to liaise with them via the Community Liaison Group for the next stage of this project.

Project Background

We have been working on a proposed wind farm at Enoch hill for over 7 years. During this time we worked hard to design a scheme that was suitable for the area. In 2019 we received planning consent for 16 wind turbines with a tip height of 130m. The environmental statement for this application can be viewed by clicking on the relevant documents contained on this page.

Due to the length of time it took to develop the initial application and then receive the subsequent consent, turbine technology had moved on at a rapid pace. We have spent the last few months reassessing the project and believe that to fully maximise the output and efficiency of the wind farm we need to submit a request to vary the consent. This means we will submit a variation application to increase the total tip height from 130m to 149.9m. The total number of turbines will stay the same but we believe the 20m height increase is a small change that will significantly increase the performance of the project. The information on this variation can be found on this page by clicking on the relevant documents.

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Latest Information

As you may know, since receiving planning consent in 2019, we’ve been working hard to optimise the project and finalise all the agreements needed to begin construction. These agreements are now close to completion and construction of the initial site entrance, construction compound and access tracks can now begin. We’re planning to start on site in mid-June.

The plan shows where we’re creating the site entrance and this is where the initial construction work will be focused on. As part of this process, there’s a need to install a set of temporary traffic lights in order to control the flow of traffic past the site entrance. We’re sorry for this inconvenience, and we’ll do everything we can to minimise disruption.

Community Benefit

RWE is committed to supporting the communities that neighbour our wind farms. In 2022 alone community funds from wind farms operated by RWE in Scotland invested around £780,000 into local projects.

Enoch Hill Wind Farm, once operational, will bring with it an annual community fund of £5,000/MW, index linked, in line with inflation, for the operational lifetime of the wind farm.

Each community fund is tailored in order to meet the unique and changing needs of the communities living close to our projects. The final funding structure, including the area of benefit, will be based on consultation with local communities and key stakeholders. During the wind farm’s construction our Community Investment Manager, Kathryn Harries, will work with local stakeholders to understand the best way to structure the fund to maximise the benefit to local communities. Initial contact has already been made with the 9CC group to understand the local agreements that have already been made by the Community Councils within East Ayrshire regarding community funds from renewable energy projects in their area.

If you have any comments or questions on the Enoch Hill Wind Farm Community Fund please contact our Community Investment Team email: community.investment@rwe.com.


Initial Application

Variation 2020

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Nicholas Taylor

If you have any questions about the information presented here, please email us.