Wind power plant in Scotland, United Kingdom. Approximate location 55.736, -4.888.
WindScotlandUnited KingdomOnshorePre Construction
Hunterston Test Centre is a 13 MW wind power plant in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is operated by Scottish Enterprise/SSE. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 11k homes (estimated). It ranks #794 of 2,860 United Kingdom power plants by installed capacity. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, wind supplies about 29.4% of United Kingdom's electricity; the national grid averages 217 gCO₂/kWh (64.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GBR0004609.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and fuel fields on this page are source-record values from the upstream open dataset. They are useful for identification and ranking, but they have not been upgraded to a 2026 registry/GEM-location verified value.
capacity: WRI Global Power Plant Database source-record (legacy); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 13 MW, Hunterston Test Centre is well above the median wind plant in United Kingdom (10 MW). Technically it is described as Onshore. Its current lifecycle status is “pre construction” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. Wind turbines convert moving air into electricity; output is variable and site-dependent, and modern turbines deliver some of the lowest-cost new generation on many grids.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Scottish Enterprise/SSE.
This wind plant converts the kinetic energy of wind into electricity through turbine rotors. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 55.7°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 31% above the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 68/100 — this site sits in the top third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #333 largest wind power plant of 779 in United Kingdom by capacity.
United Kingdom has 779 wind power plants in this dataset, together about 23,763 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 55.736, -4.888 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Hunterston Test Centre is a 13 MW source-record wind power plant in Scotland, United Kingdom, planned/announced for 2015.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 11,062 homes (estimated).
Hunterston Test Centre is operated by Scottish Enterprise/SSE.
