IN Brief:
- ESB has approved construction of the 96MW, 16-turbine Chleansaid wind farm near Lairg in the Scottish Highlands.
- GE Vernova will supply and service the turbines, Kirby Group will deliver electrical balance of plant, and Farrans will deliver civil balance of plant.
- Construction is scheduled to start later in 2026, with commercial operation targeted for 2028 under a 15-year Contract for Difference.
ESB has reached final investment decision on the 96MW Chleansaid wind farm in the Scottish Highlands and completed the principal construction contracts, moving the 16-turbine project from development into delivery ahead of a planned construction start later in 2026.
The wholly owned project is located near Lairg and represents the first onshore wind scheme in Scotland developed entirely by ESB’s own team to reach construction. Commercial operation is targeted for 2028.
GE Vernova will supply the wind turbine generators and provide long-term servicing. Kirby Group has been selected for the electrical balance-of-plant package, while Farrans Construction will deliver the civil balance-of-plant works.
That contracting structure separates several of the main engineering interfaces typical of utility-scale onshore wind. The turbine supplier provides the generating machines, civil works establish roads, foundations, compounds, and associated site infrastructure, and the electrical package connects individual turbines into a collection system capable of exporting the wind farm’s output.
The Scottish Government granted consent for Chleansaid in December 2023 following an application submitted in 2022. The consented development comprises 16 turbines, with 12 permitted up to 200m tip height and four up to 180m.
The planning application also included an approximately 20MW battery energy storage system. ESB’s current FID announcement focuses on the 96MW wind farm and does not state that the battery forms part of the construction packages now awarded, so its delivery status should be kept separate from the turbine project.
Chleansaid has secured a 15-year Contract for Difference, giving the wind farm a long-term route to market. The contract reduces exposure to wholesale electricity-price volatility by providing a strike-price mechanism over the support period, although it does not remove construction, grid, availability, or operating risk.
Reaching FID is therefore a material change of project status. A consented development can remain in a pipeline for years while financing, grid conditions, equipment costs, and revenue arrangements are resolved. An investment decision combined with executed principal contracts creates a much clearer pathway into physical delivery.
The work now shifts towards detailed design, mobilisation, access roads, earthworks, turbine foundations, electrical infrastructure, and grid-interface construction. In the Highlands, those activities also have to be sequenced around terrain, weather, environmental conditions, abnormal-load transport routes, and delivery of large turbine components to a relatively remote site.
Electrical balance of plant will determine how the 16 turbines operate as a single power station. Medium-voltage collection circuits from the turbines have to be coordinated with switchgear, protection, control, metering, communications, earthing, the project substation, and the higher-voltage network connection.
Those interfaces become critical during commissioning. Turbines may be mechanically complete before the wider project is ready to export at full capacity, so energisation, protection testing, communications checks, individual turbine commissioning, and grid-code compliance have to proceed in a controlled sequence.
The separation between civil, electrical, and turbine contracts also creates dependencies. Foundation dimensions must match turbine loads, roads and crane pads must suit the installation method, electrical infrastructure has to be available for phased energisation, and cable routes need to align with the civil programme. Delay in one package can constrain progress elsewhere even where equipment is ready.
Onshore wind avoids the marine installation risks associated with offshore generation, but that does not make delivery simple. Modern multi-megawatt turbines require substantial foundations and lifting operations, while high-capacity projects increasingly depend on detailed network studies, reactive-power capability, protection settings, and supervisory control to satisfy connection requirements.
For ESB, Chleansaid also carries portfolio significance. The company says it has approximately 2GW of onshore wind opportunities under development across Scotland and Wales, making the Highland project the first construction-stage test of a much larger pipeline.
That makes contractor performance and interface management valuable beyond one site. Experience gained through procurement, transport, civil works, electrical installation, commissioning, and operations can be applied to later projects if the wider pipeline advances.
The 2028 commercial-operation target leaves roughly two years for construction and commissioning from the planned start later this year. Meeting it will depend on the interaction of civil progress, turbine supply, grid works, weather, and testing rather than any single headline milestone.
Chleansaid now has the elements that distinguish a committed project from a consented opportunity: final investment decision, a 15-year route to market, principal contractors, and a target operating date. The next evidence of progress will come from the site itself, as roads, foundations, electrical systems, and turbines turn the development into a functioning 96MW power station.
