Nestle to build new wind farm in Scotland for its UK, Ireland operations

Multinational foods giant Nestlé today announced plans to build a new wind farm in Scotland in a push to own its clean sources of energy generation that power its operations.

Construction is underway on the nine-turbine wind farm in Dumfries and Galloway, which is expected to be completed by 2017.

On completion, the wind farm is expected to generate enough clean electricity to power half of Nestle UK and Ireland's operations with around 125GWh of power each year.

In April Nestlé UK and Ireland said that all of its grid-supplied electricity now came from renewable sources, according to the firm's chief executive Dame Fiona Kendrick the announcement took its clean energy push "a huge step further".

"This is a newly commissioned wind farm, generating new energy, creating capacity that didn't previously exist and capable of providing half of our electricity needs," she said in a statement. "It's a proud moment for us and means we have reached another key milestone in our efforts to become a sustainable business."

The move comes after several major energy consumers such as Procter & Gamble and Apple, had preferred to commission their own wind farms rather than source clean power through the grid.

The company will partner with Community Wind Power at its nine-turbine site in Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway, which is to open next  year.

The wind farm power output of 125GWh would be equivalent to the power demands of around 30,000 homes.

Daily Record and Sunday Mail quoted community Windpower managing director, Rod Wood, ''Community Windpower are delighted to be working with Nestlé by providing 50 per cent of their energy requirements from our Sanquhar community wind farm project.

''As a leading party within the RE100 , Nestlé's commitment to sustainable resourcing is exemplary and our partnership is testament to that.''