Plan for 17-turbine wind farm close to Flow Country World Heritage Site
Turbines rising to a height of 200 metres will be built close to the Flow Country World Heritage Site if plans for a new wind farm are approved.
Altnabreac Wind Farm is proposed for a site south-east of Altnabreac railway station. The station is about seven miles from the Forsinard lookout tower which is a focal point of the Flow Country.
The 130-megawatt project would consist of up to 17 turbines, each with a blade-tip height of up to 200m, and a battery storage system.
The development is being taken forward by UK-based Wind2 for EDPR, which has its headquarters in Spain and has an office in Edinburgh.
A public consultation event has been scheduled for Thursday, February 20, from 4pm to 7pm, at the Ross Institute in Halkirk. The event is advertised in this week’s John O’Groat Journal.
The Unesco World Heritage Site status for the Flow Country was announced in July 2024. It became the first Scottish site to achieve the designation purely for its natural criteria, joining locations such as the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef in the global listing.
The Altnabreac Wind Farm website says the application is expected to be submitted to Scottish ministers through the Energy Consents Unit this autumn. Onshore developments above 50 megawatts are determined by the Scottish Government under Section 36 of the Electricity Act.
The application can be seen on the Highland Council planning portal.
A council report, compiled when the Flow Country was still on the tentative list for World Heritage Site status, stated: “This is a particularly sensitive and complex site to accommodate any form of wind energy development… the council [would] have significant concerns in relation to the landscape and visual impacts.”
An Environmental Impact Assessment scoping report for the project, from November 2024, notes that the World Heritage Site “surrounds the site boundary”. It adds: “Significant operational effects unlikely... Relatively little permanent footprint with all new infrastructure to be located outside of the protected area.”
The project website says: “The design is being developed by a multidisciplinary project team through a consultation process which will take into consideration feedback from consultees, the community and experienced consultants.
“Surveys and studies continue to be conducted to allow assessment of environmental and technical considerations, such as ornithology, cultural heritage, landscape and visual, peat and design process.
“These surveys continue to inform the layout which aims to strike the optimum balance between maximising renewable energy generation and storage and its associated benefits while also removing or reducing any potential adverse impacts through a mitigation plan.”
Details of the site and the proposals will be available at the consultation event in Halkirk, according to the public notice, and representatives of the developers will be present to answer any questions. Comments on the proposals can be submitted up to March 31.
The Flow Country stores approximately 400 million tonnes of carbon, more than all the UK’s forests and woodlands combined.
The World Heritage Site bid was brought forward by the Flow Country Partnership, which described the 4000-square-kilometre area as “a hugely complex and fragile ecosystem with a vast array of plants that act as an important defence against climate change”.
Top Stories
World Heritage Site status is expected to bring environmental, social, cultural and economic benefits for the north of Scotland.
The chief executive of VisitScotland said at the time: “This marks the start of an exciting future for this special part of Caithness and Sutherland, and we hope it will further enhance our ambition for Scotland to become a sustainable tourism destination that benefits all.”
King Charles visited the newly designated World Heritage Site at the end of July.
Wind2 has been invited to comment.
