CWP halts 308-MW British wind project amid rising costs, windfall tax

September 28 (Renewables Now) - Britain’s Community Windpower (CWP) on Wednesday announced it has shelved its 308-MW Sanquhar II wind farm project in Scotland as rising costs have made the project unviable.

The 44-turbine project, planned to create the UK’s fourth largest onshore wind farm, has “ground to a halt” due to the windfall tax on new renewable power plants, coupled with rising costs.

The project construction was initially estimated at around GBP 300 million (USD 364.2m/EUR 346.7m), but the extreme inflation, higher interest rates and a weak pound have pushed up infrastructure costs. According to the developer, the required investment currently exceeds GBP 500 million.

“We’ve run the financial models?.?.?.?We cannot get the return on capital that we need to cover the bank requirements for financing," said Rod Wood, managing director of CWP.

Planned to be installed on the border of Dumfries and Galloway and East Ayrshire, Sanquhar II is in the shovel-ready phase and the start of civil construction was scheduled for next year. Power generation was expected to be launched in the summer of 2025 to produce electricity for around 350,000 homes.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.214/EUR 1.156)