Scotland Refuses Consent For Two Separate Wind Farms
The Scottish Government refused consent earlier this week for two separate wind farms intended for the county of Sutherland.
Scotland’s Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing, made the announcement earlier this week, explaining that consent for a 22 turbine wind farm located at Sallachy and Dullachy estate in central Sutherland, as well as a 23 turbine wind farm intended for Glencassley Estate, had been refused consent.
“The Scottish Government’s policy on wind farms strikes a careful balance between maximising Scotland’s huge green energy potential and protecting some of our most scenic landscape and wild land area,” said Ewing.
Specifically, the two wind farms were said to have “an unacceptable impact” on the nearby wild land areas, and that such impact would not be outweighed by any wider policy benefit.
“We have been clear that wind farms can only be built in the right places and Scottish Planning Policy sets out rigorous steps to ensure wind farms are sited appropriately and sensitively,” Mr Ewing continued. “I have considered these applications fully and recognise the efforts made by the applicants to mitigate the potential impacts of the Developments. However I have refused permission as the proposals would still have significant and unacceptable landscape and visual impacts in the local areas and these are not outweighed by any wider policy benefit.”
The announcement is mildly surprising, given Scotland’s relatively historic wind records and deployment over the past few years. However, the news comes not long after it was revealed that Scotland is on track to miss its 100% renewable energy target if further investment is not made in onshore and offshore wind.
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I do not know the areas mentioned, but since wind turbines have a more ‘sight’ impact than solar panes (say on a roof) in some cases that need to taken into consideration.
Even though I am for worldwide RE.
Well, there isn’t much wilderness in the UK and this is a special bit of what there is, so understandable.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/landscapes/flow_country/
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Massive drought and flooding will also have an impact on sensitive wild areas. This is a very short-sighted decision.
Areas where wind is refused should not have wind banned from them permanently as what is considered acceptable will change as people get used to seeing more wind turbines.
I disagree Ross. I think that as people get used to the tall towers and turbines, they will lose their novel charm and folks will become even more resistant to sighting them in beautiful places. Unfortunately for wind energy the towers have to be located on high ground for unobstructed wind, which also makes them very visible. I’m a big fan of wind energy, but I’m also a lover of natural landscapes. In agricultural areas I think they’re great, but I don’t like seeing them in wilderness areas.
We don’t have wilderness areas in the UK other than the odd mountain top, pretty much everything is fully maintained one way or another.
I live in Spain most of the time, which also has a distinct lack of wilderness, at least compared to California where I grew up. But there are some pretty spectacular landscapes dotted with old stone villages. Sometimes the scale of the windmills is a bit jarring in these settings.