A planning application has been approved for a new 26-turbine wind farm in South Lanarkshire.

The development, located 5km south of Strathaven, will power the equivalent of up to 49,000 homes in the area. In addition, over the lifetime of the wind farm, it will generate around £4m to the local community. Up to 50 jobs will be created during the construction phase of the investment.

The wind farm, which will be developed by Banks Renewables (Kype Muir Wind Farm) Limited, will have a maximum generating capacity of 104MW in the South Lanarkshire Council area.

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Granting consent for the development, Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: "The Kype Muir wind farm will create jobs both in its construction and during its lifetime. Once it is up and running, the wind farm will save thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, and will be able to produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 49,000 homes.

"It's also encouraging to see that this consent will mean that this development will be at the forefront of driving a solution to deal with the aviation radar issues that exist with wind development in the area.

"Wind farms, like Kype Muir, provide considerable benefits to their local community and play an important part in helping Scotland reach its target of the equivalent of 100% of electricity demand generated from renewables.

"Scotland is leading the way across UK in how we support local and community ownership of renewable energy. We have been supporting communities to develop renewable projects for over a decade and, over that time, our support has adapted to meet the needs of communities."

(JP/MH)