Leading renewables developer OnPath Energy is progressing its plans to invest around £1 billion in Southern Scotland over the next five years by partnering with Wilson Forest Products on three new onshore wind farms in South Lanarkshire.
OnPath has entered into an option agreement with the family-owned Scottish firm for the Bankend Rig II, Bankend Rig III and Hawkwood Wind Farm projects.
The option agreement gives OnPath Energy the right, subject to certain project milestones and conditions being achieved, to acquire a majority stake in the three projects.
The two companies have previously worked together of the development of OnPath’s nearby Mill Rig Wind Farm, which is adjacent to the Hawkwood site and expected to be fully operational later this year.
The three wind farms entail a total of 18 turbines with a combined capacity of 121MW, which is enough to meet the annual electricity needs of around 150,000 homes.
Planning consents for the Bankend Rig II and Bankend Rig III Wind Farms were secured by Wilson Forest Products in 2025, with the Hawkwood Wind Farm proposal recently being approved by South Lanarkshire Council, subject to concluding satisfactory legal agreements.
The three wind farm sites lie to the south west of OnPath Energy’s Kype Muir Wind Farm in South Lanarkshire.
OnPath acquired the Pates Hill Wind Farm in West Lothian last year, as well as the Milton Keynes Wind Farm in Buckinghamshire, and is currently exploring a range of potential new development sites across Great Britain, including locations in Scotland, England and, for the first time, Wales.
Richard Dunkley, CEO at OnPath Energy, says: “We are making significant investments in high-quality renewable energy infrastructure as we grow in terms of our diversity of projects and technologies, as well as geographically, and have a clear strategy in place for how we will achieve our goals.
“Alongside developing our own renewable generation projects from first principles, we are also looking to identify other opportunities at every stage of the lifecycle, from pre-construction right through to operational wind farms and project repowering.
“The one-billion-pound investment in clean energy projects across southern Scotland in the next five years is central to OnPath Energy’s drive towards becoming the UK’s leading renewable energy developer.”
Shaun Chande, M&A director at OnPath Energy, adds: “Both teams have worked extremely hard to bring together this agreement, which marks a key milestone for OnPath.
“Following the completion of the sale of seven operational wind farms earlier in the year, we are executing our strategy of reinvesting capital from the sale of existing operational assets into new high quality onshore wind development projects.
“Asset rotation, including both acquisitions and disposals, is a key part of our long-term growth strategy, with the capital we generate enabling us to increase our investment in our project pipeline and build up the contribution we can make towards delivering growth and jobs across the UK with clean, home-grown energy.”
OnPath Energy is owned by the world’s largest dedicated transition investor and leading global investment firm Brookfield Asset Management, which has over 46,000 megawatts of operating renewable energy capacity worldwide.