REG Greenburn Ltd has developed proposals for a wind farm and battery storage facility adjacent to the former Greenburn opencast coal mine near New Cumnock.

Formerly a world-class mining operation, coal extraction at Greenburn ended in 2018. The landscape restoration works were completed in the summer of 2019, with final work being carried out in 2020.

Although the wind farm will be located next to the restored land, the land use at Greenburn demonstrates the full evolution of power generation.

The Section 36 application - reference  ECU00002037 - was consented by Ministers on 21 April 2023.

Since then, REG Power Management Ltd and ESB conducted energy yield studies and a commercial appraisal of the project to finalise their plans for implementation. This exercise led to revisions to the consented project, to improve the generating capacity of the Greenburn Wind Park, while reducing construction costs, enabling a commercially viable project to be progressed. The revised proposal - S36C - was consented by Scottish Government in October 2026.

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REG and ESB proposed various revisions to the project that was originally consented in 2023. These included:

• reducing the number of turbines from 16 to 14;

• increasing the consented turbine blade tip heights of 11 turbines to 180m and three to 167.5m; and

• fitting six of the 14 turbines with visible aviation lighting which is subject to CAA and MOD approval. (To ensure the safety of air traffic, aviation authorities require wind turbines over 150m to be fitted with aviation (night-time) lighting).

Battery storage will be co-located with the wind farm to maximise the use of the grid connection.

The subsequent Section 36C application (to vary the existing consent) was consented by the Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit in October 2026.

April 2023

• Greenburn wind park consented by Ministers. See here

May 2024

• Public exhibition for people to see the revised proposals.

• Public consultation on the revised scheme

June 2024

• Feedback to the project team closed at 17:00hrs on 19 June 2024. Comments made at this stage, are not representations to Scottish Government: you will have an opportunity to make a formal representation about the revised proposals for Greenburn wind park, when an application is submitted to Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit later this summer.

Summer 2024

• Updated Environmental Impact Assessment completed

Autumn 2024

• Section 36C Application submitted to Scottish Government

• Formal, public consultation period open

October 2026

• Section 36C application consented by Scottish Government. See here