Nigg Wind Energy

A wind farm at Nigg is being proposed by Falck Renewables Ltd, a leading European Wind Energy Company with operations in Spain, France and Italy as well as the UK.  Falck Renewables has been one of the most successful developers of wind projects in the Highlands in the last few years with an 8 turbine wind farm at Boyndie in Banffshire (16.3 MegaWatt- MW),   Kilbraur near Golspie (19 turbines/47.5MW), Millennium near Invermoriston (16 turbines/40MW) and Ben Aketil on Skye (12turbines/28MW).  The company has offices in Inverness and London.  In total, Falck Renewables has some 300MW of wind projects in development across the UK.

The proposal at Nigg is for up to 12.5 MegaWatt wind farm consisting of five
turbines (125 metres to the tip, 80 metres to the hub) which will
connect to the National Grid line which supplies the Nigg Fabrication
yard, via an underground cable.

Latest News

Following extensive consultation on the application a new document, in two volumes, of "Supplementary Environmental Information" (SEI) has been prepared and submitted to Highland Council for public consultation.  The application has not been altered, beyond clarification that the scheme may be up to 12.5MW.  As Highland Council are not intending to load the electronic files onto their e-planning system the full documentation can be viewed via the downloads page.  Written representations on the application and the SEI can be made to Highland Council for 28 days following the date of advertising.

The Planning Application

A planning application was submitted to The Highland Council on 24 January 2008. Copies of the Planning Application (Vol1), Environmental Statement text (Vol2), Technical Appendices (Vol 4) and Non Technical Summary (NTS) can be downloaded from the Downloads & Links section of this website.  Unfortunately the Figures Volume of the ES which contains the photomontages and other visual information is simply too large to download.  This is however available in CD format from Atmos Consulting Ltd, 24 Longman Drive, Inverness, IV1 1SU.   Copies of the full Environmental Statement and SEI can be viewed at: Nigg Community Hall, Seaboard Memorial Hall in Balintore, Cromarty Library, Planning Department on Achany Road Dingwall and The Highland Council on Glenurquhart Road Inverness.

The Proposal

• Strong wind resource
  
• No national natural heritage designations on the site
• Existing grid line with capacity runs very close to site
• Sufficient set back from properties
• Feasible transport access

Site design process

• Landscape and visual impact
• Cultural Heritage
• Goose flightlines and other Ornithological and ecological interests
• Watercourses and Water supply

Community Benefits

• The project will provide local benefits, including:
• Local employment and contracts where possible during construction and on-going maintenance.
• Contributions to local charitable trusts
  • If the wind farm is granted planning permission, a charitable trust would be established to administer the money which the wind farm developer would donate to the local community every year when the wind farm is operational. The amount donated will relate to the capacity of the wind farm and will be in the region of £2,000 per megawatt of installed capacity per annum.
  • The trust would be administered locally. The money would be available for local social and environmental improvements and the trust would decide how the money is spent.
• The opportunity to “buy into” the windfarm through the creation of a local co-operative. If successful, Falck Renewables anticipate following the model at Boyndie Wind Farm near Portsoy where the local community have formed a co-operative which owns a share in the wind farm.

Decommissioning

Programme following SEI