ScottishPower Renewables (UK) Ltd Major Commendation BCE Awards 2009

ScottishPower Renewables is the largest owner, operator and developer of onshore windfarms in the UK. It operates 21 windfarms (total capacity over 750 MW) and a further 900 plus MW capacity is under construction or consented. In 1999, ScottishPower Renewables embarked on one of the UKs most ambitious, long-term habitat management programmes to protect a pair of golden eagles that were known to have a territory bordering the site of its proposed Beinn an Tuirc Windfarm, near Carradale in Argyll.




The companys pioneering and experimental Habitat Management Plan (which is overseen by a steering committee, members of which include Scottish Natural Heritage, RSPB, Argyll & Bute Council and Forestry Commission Scotland) set out to create a new hunting ground for a pair of golden eagles at a safe distance from the 30 MW, 46-turbine windfarm, by increasing populations of their main prey species, red grouse. The project, which covers 1,215 hectares, also aimed to increase populations of typical Scottish moorland bird species, such as black grouse, hen harrier, short-eared owl, skylark, curlew and merlin.

Work on the site began in October 1999. It involved the removal of 280 hectares of non-native Sitka Spruce, opening up 450 hectares of moorland to draw the birds away from the windfarm, minimise the risks of collision with the turbines, improve feeding and increase the chances of the eagles breeding successfully.

The eagles barren years, prior to the companys intervention, are thought to have been due to poor quality hunting in the surrounding area. However, in summer 2008, 9 years of hard work, investment and research paid off, when a pair of golden eagle chicks fledged the first in the area for more than a decade.

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• 2009