Alan Hobbett of Berwickshire Housing Association, left, with Jamie Adam of Community Energy Scotland at Hoprigshiels windfarm near Cockburnspath, Scotland. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian
Amid the rolling hills and woodland pastures of south-east Scotland, a wind of change is blowing through communities where low wages and casual work sit uneasily alongside the popular image of timeless market towns and pretty coastal villages.
High above rich arable land by the North Sea, three tall wind turbines, blades spinning wildly, have started generating electricity for the national grid with two social purposes: to sell energy and use the income to deliver hundreds of new homes in a scattered rural community while, at the same time, providing additional funds for similar schemes elsewhere in Scotland.
