OREANDA-NEWS. SSE's Fairburn wind farm near Inverness boosted the UK's economy by GBP 12.4m, a new study has found.

The report was conducted by accountancy firm PwC, and commissioned by SSE, to evaluate its economic impact on the UK economy.

It found that SSE delivered GBP 9.1bn to the UK economy last year, similar in scale to the financial impact of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Fairburn wind farm was chosen as a case study to highlight within the context of SSE's overall economic activity in both Scotland and the UK.

It found that, during construction in 2009, despite there being no UK based wind turbine supplier at the time, SSE still managed to keep over GBP 10m of the construction costs in the UK, with the vast majority of work going to local suppliers and contractors.

Furthermore, it was found that for every GBP 1million of capital investment in the Fairburn wind farm by SSE, a total of 29 'job years' were supported in the wider economy.

Rachel McEwen, Head of Sustainability, SSE said: “Although the report demonstrates that overall SSE made an Olympic sized contribution to the UK's economy, it is difficult to picture the effect GBP 9.1bn can have. We chose Fairburn wind farm as a case study to demonstrate the positive impact our projects have at a local level.

“In addition to the economic impact to the area as a result of the wind farm's construction, over GBP 345,000 has already been granted to community projects in Contin, Muir of Ord, Marybank, Scatwell and Strathconon. Over the life of the wind farm, communities stand to receive a further GBP 2m from the community benefit fund.”

To date, Fairburn's community benefit fund has supported, amongst others, new playground equipment for Marybank Primary School, funding for the Strathconon Games, an energy fund for Strathconon Hall and provided continued support for the Contin Gala.

Since becoming fully operational in February 2010, the 20 turbine wind farm, located to the south of Loch Achonachie in Glen Orrin, Ross-shire, has been helping meet the Scottish Government's ambition of generating the equivalent of 100% of Scotland's electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020.

Fairburn wind farm has the capacity to provide electricity for two in five Inverness homes and over its 25 year operational life, the energy generated could offset as much as 354,500 tonnes of CO2.