Rogart Community Council given presentation on yet another wind farm planned for the area
Rogart Community Council has been given details of yet another wind farm proposed for the area.
Developers Invenergy gave a presentation on the proposed Creag Dubh wind farm at the council’s meeting in Pittentrail Hall yesterday evening.
Meanwhile an application for Acheilidh Wind Farm, formerly known as Lairg III, and also located in the Rogart area, has been submitted to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit and Highland Council.
Edinburgh-based Invenergy is proposing to erect 30 turbines, 200m to tip, on a site on Tressady Estate, 7km north-east of Lairg and to the north-west of West Langwell.
The wind farm would have an installed capacity of 198MW and an 81 MW battery storage facility may also be installed near the project substation.
Invenergy, which developed the operational Bettyhill wind farm, said the plans for Creag Dubh were at an early stage with ornithological surveys currently being carried out and an anemometer yet to be installed.
Public exhibitions are planned for next year and, if approved, the wind farm would not be operational until 2030.
Those attending the meeting felt that the name Creag Dubh wind farm was misleading and did not reflect the location of the development.
Following the presentation, community council chairman Frank Roach said the planning application for Acheilidh wind farm had just been submitted
EnergieKontor hopes to build the 79.2MW wind farm along with 5MW of battery storage on land 7.6km south-east of Lairg and 8km to the west of Pittentrail.
It would have 12 turbines with a mix of tip heights with the tallest being around 230m. Twenty turbines were initially proposed.
Rogart Community Council carried out a survey to gauge local opinion on the Acheilidh proposal and the majority of respondents were opposed to the development.
Wind farms above 50MW are decided by the Scottish Government but the Highland Council is a statutory consultee.
Mr Roach said: “We have three months to respond (to the Acheilidh project) as a community council and individuals have a month to respond.”
Mr Roach went on to talk about community benefit from the 96MW, 16-turbine Chleansaid wind farm on Dalnessie Estate, Lairg, which was given the go-ahead in December.
“We are the host community so we call the shots,” he said. We have had an initial meeting with Lairg community councillors and need to have another one to talk about how we are going to arrange which community gets what amount.”
