OPINION | JEREMY GORDON
Jeremy Gordon is an independent communication consultant with 15 years of experience in the international energy industry. His company Fluent in Energy supports partners of all kinds to communicate matters of clean energy and sustainable development.
Blown away by the competition
Jeremy Gordon asks whether the nuclear industry could improve public engagement by setting up more accessible visitor attractions
“We are trying to entertain people, but the demand is not very high yet”
HEY MADE A DESTINATION OUT of a desert — and people love it. I’m not talking about Las Vegas or the
latest seven-star resort in Dubai, but the windswept semi-barren Eaglesham Moor in Scotland. This is a place around 25km outside Glasgow that hosts
Whitelee wind farm. It was voted ‘The UK’s favourite wind farm’ in a contest run by the trade association Renewable UK. Whitelee also claims to be the most Instagrammed wind
12 | May 2021 |
www.neimagazine.com
farm in the world: people have posted more than 13,000 pictures of their visits on the social media site to date. Why is this place so popular, and how on earth can the British public have a ‘favourite wind farm’? The answer is surprisingly simple. Since its first turbines came online in 2009 its owner, Scottish Power Renewables, has invested in facilities and relationships to develop Whitelee into a leading tourist attraction. Over the years, as the wind farm grew to 215 large turbines, 150km of pathways were laid between them for walkers, runners, cyclists and horse riders. On a typical year 200,000 people visit, and during Scotland’s COVID-19 restrictions the numbers have been considerably higher, with cars overflowing onto the verges of the nearby trunk road. People evidently love spending time among the giant wind turbines, taking in their scale and marvelling at their engineering. Receiving Renewable UK’s award, Scottish Power
Renewables’ CEO Lindsay McQuade said, “To me it is almost a country park.” But McQuade is too modest. Whitelee is much more than that. It has a visitors’ centre that attracts a further 80,000 people every year. From the beginning, Scottish Power struck an agreement with Glasgow Science Centre for it to manage and operate the visitors’ centre. It offers a full range of education programmes designed to support the Scottish government’s Curriculum for Excellence for all ages up to 16. All the content and exhibits link back in some way to wind energy, recycling and renewables and it is free for casual visitors. At the weekend there are workshops and packages for school and adult groups to learn about astronomy and crafting, and there is even a wind tunnel for visitors to try
THE UNIT: Alexy Kovynev
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