Plans for Pentland Offshore Floating Wind Farm at Dounreay ready to go
A major project near Dounreay is expected to take a big step forward in the coming weeks with a full application for a pioneering offshore wind farm set to be submitted imminently.
Councillors will today note progress on the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm development at Highland Council's north planning meeting.
The scheme, if consented, will see seven turbines up to 300m high to their blade tips built around 6km offshore from the former nuclear plant at Dounreay.
Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP), the operator behind the venture, has submitted a pre-application notice (PAN) to Highland Council for the onshore infrastructure related to the development.
It told the Caithness Courier it intends to submit a full application to Marine Scotland for the offshore elements of the project "shortly", with a consultation beginning later this month following a validation period.
The applicant had already submitted a PAN to Highland Council for the onshore works in 2021, but has now provided the new plans requesting a larger site.
The company explained that the onshore site size was increased to include aspects of the development that weren’t previously included within the application, including the intertidal area, an access track and a route into the existing substation where the project will connect into the national grid.
It added that the overall footprint of the onshore site has not changed, but it is including all the onshore requirements in one application "to adopt a cleaner, more straightforward approach".
The proposed site includes parts of the Sandside Bay Site of Special Scientific Interest and the Knock Urray broch, and is close to the North Caithness Cliff Special Area of Conservation.
A full planning application for the onshore works will be submitted in October.
If approved, the 100MW offshore wind farm could power up to 70,000 homes, according to the company.
Following a consultation earlier this year, COP reduced the proposed number of turbines from 10 to seven, which allowed it to operate to the same overall capacity due to an increase in the size of the turbines.
It said no further changes were proposed to the offshore proposals and that a separate online consultation event will be held for the onshore proposals in late August to early September.
Richard Copeland, project director, said: “To ensure the project remains considerate of the views of the local community, there will be an online consultation event in the coming weeks to provide information on the proposals and an opportunity for the community and stakeholders to speak to the project team.
"More information on this will be released soon.”
In papers before the council, Copenhagen Offshore Partners says it intends to run an online consultation from August 29 to September 19, with live question-and-answer sessions on September 1. It says the design team will be able to take questions by telephone to accommodate those who are not able to access the internet.