Watchman Energy Park

The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, which amends the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, sets targets to reduce Scotland’s emissions of all greenhouse gases to net zero by 2045 at the latest. Significant additional renewable energy capacity, over and above what is produced today, will be needed to facilitate the decarbonisation of transport and heating as Scotland transitions to net zero.  

Based on the Scoping Layout, the wind farm element of the Watchman Energy Park would be sufficient to power approximately 110,259 homes and will have a significant role in helping the Scottish and UK Governments to meet their emissions reduction and net zero commitments. The BESS will also help balance electricity supply and demand on the National Grid.

The Watchman Energy Park site (the Site) covers an area of approximately 1,070 hectares (ha). The Site is located approximately 7 km south of Elvanfoot, 10 km south of Crawford and 12 km west of Moffat and between the valley of the Daer Water to the north, Daer Reservoir and commercial forestry to the east, open moorland of the Southern Uplands to the south, and further open moorland and commercial forestry, with the A702 road beyond, to the west. The Site is within the administrative boundary of South Lanarkshire Council.  

Why here?

This Site has been selected because:

• it is situated amongst a cluster of operational, proposed and consented wind farms, including the operational Clyde Wind Farm to the northeast and the proposed Daer Wind Farm to the east; 
• it can accommodate a renewable energy development whilst avoiding significant direct effects on areas designated for nature conservation; 
• there is scope to deliver a suitable access to the Site for both construction traffic and abnormal indivisible loads (AIL) whilst avoiding potential for impacts on local road users; 
• it has consistently high anticipated wind speeds, which will deliver excellent wind energy yields; 
• the large-scale character of the landscape in and around the Site can accommodate large modern, commercial wind turbines; and
• it has good access to the electricity transmission network and a grid connection can be achieved in a reasonable timeframe

Since our previous exhibition in December, there has been significant progress on the design of the project.  The main areas of development and change are:

•  Reduction in number of  turbines from 16 to 13 in response to environmental and technical constraints

•  Identification of options for access from the public road

•  Initial layout of internal access tracks and other supporting infrastructure (e.g. borrow pit search areas and construction compound location)

•  Site selection and layout of the substation and battery energy storage system (BESS)

•  Outline proposals for biodiversity mitigation and enhancement which will be delivered as part of the Outline Biodiversity Enhancement and Management Plan (OBEMP)

You can provide feedback on the project, including ideas on community benefits, via our AssetFace page.

Please provide feedback by the 11th June 2025.

Our AssetFace page can also be used to apply for grants of up to £500 from our Watchman Small Grants Fund.

The deadline for Small Grants Fund applications will depend on demand, so please apply as soon as you can.

The Watchman project will provide a range of benefits for the local community, including a fund which will deliver direct investment into community projects and initiatives. The fund will reflect Scottish Government best practice guidance and will provide a minimum of £5,000 per MW of installed capacity of wind energy.  To support engagement on community benefits, a Small Projects community benefit fund of £5,000 has also been launched to support the use of the AssetFace platform.  The Small Projects fund will offer grants of up to £500 and will be available to support community-led initiatives in the area.  Further details will be published here shortly.

* Under ongoing reforms to how entry of new connections to the national grid is managed, it is expected that the Watchman Project will be able to connect to the grid earlier than the 2036 date currently contracted.

The design will be refined in response to stage 2 peat probing.  Any comments from the consultation events will also be considered as part of this refinement process.  Once the design has been finalised, this will form the basis of the EIA Report which is a key part of the Section 36 application submission.