Burger Hill buys RWE turbines for Orkney repowering project

Burgar Hill Energy, a partnership between Thrive Renewables and Burgar Hill Renewables, has taken ownership of two Nordex N80 wind turbines to be deployed at the Burgar Hill onshore wind farm in Orkney. 

The two 2.5MW turbines were previously owned by RWE and will be used as part of a wider upgrade initiative at the site.

In total, states Thrive Renewables, the existing five turbines will be replaced with newer, larger, and more efficient models.

Once complete, the project is expected to have an installed generation capacity of up to 30MW, which would deliver about £150,000 ($202,208) in annual community benefits annually.

According to Thrive, Burgar Hill was home to some of the world’s first multi-megawatt wind turbines and acted as a crucial testbed for onshore wind in the 1980s.

One of the most notable installations at Burgar Hill during the 1980’s was the 3MW experimental wind turbine (See images above, credit: Burgar Hill). At the time of its commissioning, this was one of the largest wind turbines in the world. 

In the 1990’s the focused shifted from research to power generation, although the units remained smaller than the 3MW test unit.

There are currently 6 turbines operating on Burgar Hill, of varying makes and models, including Nordex, NEG Micon and Enercon machines.

Total capacity currently generated on the hill is approximately 12.5MW, with the turbine age ranging between 16 - 25 years old.

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Melissa Spence, Managing Director of Burgar Hill Renewables, said: “Having grown up with one of the world’s first wind generation sites in our skyline, I’m really excited about the prospect of repowering the turbines at Burgar Hill, ensuring this pioneering site continues generating clean power and supporting our local community.”

Matthew Clayton, Chief Executive Officer at Thrive Renewables, added that the rich history of Burgar Hill makes it a prime location for repowering. “We’re thrilled to have taken the first step on that journey through our collaboration with Burgar Hill Renewables, acquiring another two of five existing turbines with an intention to extend the life of the entire site, ensuring it delivers clean electricity and community benefit well into the future.”

In 2023 Thrive replaced the blades on its Sigurd turbine on Burgar Hill, working with ReBlade to repurpose them into useful items such as EV charging stations.

From hills to coast

Another clean energy announcement coming out of Orkney is from the European Marine Energy Council, or EMEC.

Last week the government awarded EMEC £15 million to help it develop tidal power potential through the Blue Horizon project.

The project will expand EMEC’s tidal test facilities, enabling the demonstration of tidal energy arrays and speeding up commercialisation of the technology.

Matthew Finn, EMEC’s Managing Director, commented on the news: “By enhancing capacity for larger-scale arrays, Blue Horizon will enable the sector to benefit from economies of scale and reduce costs. The upgraded facilities will drive innovation in the technologies and systems required for large-scale tidal deployment worldwide, cementing the UK’s position as a global leader in tidal innovation, while driving industrial growth and strengthening energy security.”

Read more: EMEC successfully demos tidal plus storage and hydrogen integration