Public consultation announced as Pentland Demo floating wind farm near Dounreay seeks onshore permissions
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The prospective operators of a floating wind farm off Dounreay are looking to firm up its onshore presence.
Highland Wind Ltd has lodged plans for the access it needs to link up the devices to the sub-station.
The Scandinavian joint venture is meanwhile running a series of events next month to consult with residents.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) moved in to resurrect a scheme which was originally conceived to build two five-megawatt turbines.
Dounreay Tri was was granted a site lease and consent by the Scottish Government in 2017 but the venture bombed after the Edinburgh-based company went into administration in 2020.
CIP has since teamed up with Swedish developer Hexicon to take forward the trailblazing project to build and operate up to 10 giant turbines.
Standing up to 270 metres high, the structures would be significantly taller than the Beatrice turbines in the outer Moray Firth, off the east coast of Caithness.
Floating turbines are mounted on a platform that allows electricity to be generated in water depths where conventional, fixed-foundation turbines are not feasible.
The Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm – previously known as the Pentland Demo – includes the building of a substation and a subsea cable which would bring the power ashore, just west of the Vulcan site.
Highland Council has just received the proposed onshore layout.
Highland Wind Limited is seeking consent to construct and upgrade two areas of existing access track from the A836 to the substation.
Its consultants Plan A say this can be done without any significant adverse impact.
Plan A states: "Given the currently industrial nature of the Vulcan and Dounreay sites, it is considered very unlikely that the proposed development would disturb and adversely affect the current baseline."
It is asking Highland Council to consider the onshore scheme without requiring a full environmental impact assessment.
A scoping report for the 100 megawatt scheme has been submitted to Marine Scotland.
But the CIP-controlled consortium is hoping it will be allowed to use the consent granted to Dounreay Tri to erect a single demonstration turbine by 2023.
The larger array is being scheduled to go live in 2026.
The venture received a boost in January when it was awarded a £9.6 million grant from the UK government's net zero innovation fund.
The scheme is the focus of a series of forthcoming consultations.
A virtual exhibition is being launched on May 9 followed by an online question-and-answer session between 4.30pm and 6pm on May 18, both via the scheme's website, openplans.uk/pentland
Drop-in events are also being held at Reay Golf Club clubhouse on May 11 between 2pm and 8pm and in the North Coast Visitor Centre in Thurso between 11am and 5pm on May 12.
Residents will be able to take part in a live question-and-answer session with members of the project team on Tuesday, October 5 between noon and 2.30pm and from 6pm to 8.30pm.
Related news
- £9.6m funding award for Pentland floating wind scheme off Dounreay
- Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm signs deal with Scrabster Harbour Trust to develop operations and maintenance base in Caithness
