KENNEDY Renewables, who own and operate Little Raith Wind Farm, this week submitted a planning application to Fife Council to extend the facility to the south of Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly and build six new turbines. But the proposals also include a visitor and education centre at the site, between the A92 and the Mossmorran petro-chemical complex.

Little Raith Wind Farm consists of nine turbines and became fully operational in November 2012, with a generating capacity of 24.75 MW of electricity.

The extension will be for six turbines, 126.5m to tip height, comparable in scale to the operational turbines, to provide one uniform wind farm site. After announcing plans to extend the wind farm in November, Kennedy Renewables held consultations with members of the public and statutory consultees, including public exhibitions in February as well as Community Liaison Forum meetings. Ahead of these public exhibitions, Kennedy Renewables took the decision to remove a proposed seventh turbine that would have been located closer to the village of Auchtertool. This turbine was removed after a review showing that it appeared isolated compared to the rest of the scheme.

The planning application includes proposals to build an Education and Visitor Centre at Little Raith, which will allow local schools, colleges, universities and community groups to visit and learn more about Fife’s first commercial wind farm and how a wind farm operates.

This facility will be funded entirely by Kennedy Renewables, who will employ a Community Engagement Manager to manage the facility and ensure that all who wish to visit the site can do so free of charge. The existing wind farm currently pays £49,500 per annum to the Four Winds Development Trust (FWDT) who manage the funds on behalf of the community councils in Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly, Lumphinnans and Auchtertool. Since the wind farm has been in operation, the FWDT have awarded over £26,000 of grants to local community groups in each of the four communities with beneficiaries including Lochgelly Women’s Social Group, Cowdenbeath Community Theatre, Auchtertool Youth Club and Lumphinnans United Football Club. If consented the community benefit fund would be increased by up to a further £96,000 per annum, bringing the project into line with the Scottish Government’s aspiration for all renewables projects to pay communities at least £5k per megawatt.

Jonny Kennedy, Managing Director of Kennedy Renewables said, “We are extremely proud of Little Raith Wind Farm and the warm welcome that we have received in Fife since the facility started operating in November 2012. “We are committed to Fife and we are glad to see the community benefit fund being used by the local communities that we neighbour to fund initiatives that otherwise would be unsupported.

“We are also extremely pleased to have secured long term partnerships with Fife College and Cowdenbeath FC to assist local students and aspiring young footballers achieve their goals.

“Our new Education and Visitor Centre will allow us to ensure that as many local groups as possible can access and benefit from our wind farm and, in particular, we would like to encourage local schools to work with us to ensure their students get the best possible opportunities to engage with the renewables industry in their local area.

“We have already invested over £20m in the Fife economy by building Little Raith Wind Farm and our community benefit fund will invest £1.25m in the local communities over the next 25 years.

“If approved the extension will allow us to further invest in the Fife economy and into our community benefit fund. We are committed to this programme of investment and hope Fife Council look favourably on our proposal.”