Russell Mayall and Iona Richards, first year students on the REMS CDT, recently visited the Kilgallioch Wind Farm in south-western Scotland as part of a study trip hosted by Professor Guy Houlsby. The farm is being developed by Scottish Power Renewables and when completed will comprise 96 by 2.5 MW turbines.

The trip was a great opportunity to see a major construction project at first hand, with turbines in various stages of completion. Following two of the 56 m blades along the road to the site provided a useful introduction to logistics, and stepping inside the Gamesa nacelles gave a real sense of scale. These 2.5 MW machines are comparable in size to many of the turbines installed at the Round 1 and 2 offshore wind farms in UK waters.