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New £40m wind farm near Darvel gets green light

Banks Renewables CGI of Mill Rig developmentBanks Renewables
Developers say Mill Rig will generate enough electricity to power 21,000 homes

A new £40m onshore wind farm has been granted planning permission by South Lanarkshire Council.

Developers Banks Renewables have won approval for six large turbines at Mill Rig Wind Farm near Darvel.

The project, which straddles the South Lanarkshire and East Ayrshire border, will have a capacity of about 36MW - enough to power about 21,000 homes.

Banks Renewables said the development was "on course" to become operational within three years.

In a statement, the firm said the project would displace more than 18,000 tonnes of CO2 annually from the UK's electricity supply grid - the equivalent of removing almost 7,000 petrol cars from the road.

The Hamilton-based company plans to set up a local community fund which it has claimed will generate up to £5.4m in revenue over the expected 30-year lifetime of the project.

It has also estimated that the local area will benefit from local contracts worth £11.7m during construction.

Robin Winstanley, sustainability manager at Banks Renewables, said: "With the next steps of detailed design and construction, Mill Rig Wind Farm is on track to help Scotland achieve its ambitious net zero targets, bolstering the UK's energy security by producing green electricity by 2025."