Scottish Water invests in wind power to keep energy bills down

The turbines, which make up the utility’s first project of its kind in Scotland, are capable of generating 500KW of electricity per day.

Scottish Water energy team project manager Eddie Johnstone said: “I hope that this wind project will be first of many similar projects that will enable Scottish Water to reduce its dependency on the grid.

“We are looking to take advantage of the Western Isles natural wind resource to assist in reducing Scottish Water’s energy costs.”

Johnstone explained that the company’s operations were extremely energy-intensive and that it was in Scottish Water’s interest to produce more of its own power in order to reduce its energy bills.

“Small-scale wind development at our treatment works such as Stornoway is one of the ways we can achieve this. The energy generated here will help to power the treatment works, meaning we need to purchase less energy as a result,” he added.

The turbines are part of a wider investment programme by Scottish Water Horizons, the utility’s commercial subsidiary, in renewable generation schemes across Scotland.

Scottish Water currently generates about 7% of the energy it consumes but through innovative use of its assets, such as treatment works, pipes, catchments and pipelines, the company claims it is capable of significantly increasing this proportion.

Conor McGlone