Councillors advised not to object to 77-turbine Caithness offshore wind plan
Councillors are being advised to raise no objection to plans for a wind farm development that could, ultimately, more than double the capacity of a firm’s operations in the Moray Firth.
We previously reported, late last year, how Ocean Winds wants to create a new 2GW wind farm off the east Caithness coast in the Moray Firth, with Caledonia Offshore sitting alongside the existing Moray East and Moray West wind farms as part of a cluster of renewable energy developments if it is approved.
Ocean Winds was awarded the site in 2022 as part of the Scottish Government’s ScotWind process and, if consented, the new wind farm would more than double the capacity of its operations in the Moray Firth, as the company owns both Moray East and Moray West.
It would also dwarf the neighbouring Beatrice development, consisting of up to 140 turbines in total, in an area of 423 square kilometres to the east of Moray East.
Each turbine would be up to 355m tall and the development would include up to four offshore substation platforms, with cabling coming onshore in Aberdeenshire.
In a report going to Highland Council’s north planning applications committee this week it is explained how the overall project is being progressed as two separate applications - for Caledonian North and Caledonia South.
It is the former of these which forms the basis of a current application, with plans for 77 turbines at this stage.
Councillors are told the scheme “represents the next wave of offshore energy development in Scotland in terms of scale and generation capacity” and the report adds: “Indeed, the substantial investment in the four Cromarty Firth Green Free Port sites at Invergordon, Nigg, Inverness, and Ardersier is intended to facilitate the delivery of offshore energy of this nature.”
Planning officers also explain: “Both the Caledonia North and the Caledonia South application areas are being considered individually, however the Caledonia South array area is not being presented to either (Highland) area committee due to its distance from the council’s coastline.
“This is because the Caledonia South array area is located 40km at its closest point to the Highland area and beyond the array of the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm. As such, that aspect of the development will not result in significant seascape, landscape, or visual effects within Highland.
“Conversely, the closest of the up to 77 x 355m turbines of the Caledonia North array area is located 25km from the Highland shoreline and 28km from the centre of Wick.”
The application will be decided, in any event, by Scottish ministers and not councillors - and officers advise that, even if they did decide to object to the proposal it would be at the discretion of ministers whether that resulted in any action such as the mounting of a public local inquiry into the proposals.
Officers also state that a deadline for responding to a consultation on the proposals was missed “due to resourcing issues”.
If the development is consented it is anticipated construction would commence no earlier than 2028, with the site operational from the early 2030s, with an operational life of up to 35 years.