Located 2 miles (3 km) southwest of the Afton Reservoir and 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Carsphairn (Dumfries and Galloway), on the border of the East Ayrshire Council Area, the Windy Standard Wind Farm cost £17.5 million and began generation in 1996. The farm covers an area of 350 ha (865 acres) on the slopes of Windy Standard (697m / 2287 feet). It comprises 36 Danish-designed Nordtank NTK600 turbines, each standing 35m (115 feet) high and capable of generating 600 kW of power, giving a total generation capacity of 21.6 megawatts (MW). The turbines start generating when the wind speed reaches 11 miles per hour (5 metres/second) and, for reasons of safety, shut down when the wind speed exceeds 56 miles per hour (25 metres/second).
The wind farm is jointly owned by National Wind Power and Fred Olsen. National Wind Power was formed in 1991 and is now a subsidiary of the German utility and engineering giant RWE AG. Fred Olsen is a Norwegian-based energy, oil and gas exploration and shipping company.
