Scotland approves 288 MW wind farm

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EDINBURGH, Scotland, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- The Scottish government announced approval of construction of a 96-turbine wind farm that could generate as much as 288 megawatts of power.

Scotland said planning consent was given to the Kilgallioch wind farm, proposed by ScottishPower Renewables. The government said the project's generating capacity of 288 MW will provide enough electricity to meet the annual energy demands of more than 130,000 households.

The facility is to be built south of Barrhill in southwestern Scotland, the company said.

The company boasts of more than 1,200 MW of operational wind capacity in the region. Chief Executive Officer Keith Anderson said the latest project would help ensure a regional low-carbon economy.

"Kilgallioch is a very significant renewable energy project that will make a major contribution toward both Scotland's and the U.K.'s carbon reduction targets," he said in a statement.

Scotland has the ambitious renewable energy targets of 100 percent electricity from green energy sources by 2020.

In December, Edinburgh said figures from the British Department of Energy and Climate Change show it generated 15.2 percent more electricity from renewable energy during the first three-quarters of 2012 than during the same period last year.