A controversial Ross-shire wind farm which was granted approval in 2011 is
now the subject of a fresh planning application because its new owners want
to use different turbines to generate more electricity.
Preparatory work on the 19-turbine Corriemoillie Wind Farm near Garve is
already underway, but updated consent is needed because EDF Energy
Renewables plans to use turbines with a larger generating capacity.
The French energy firm acquired the wind farm project from E.ON Climate and
Renewables UK Developments Limited last year.
It is due to form a larger cluster wind farm with the Lochluichart turbines
which went into operation in 2014.
A couple of months after the takeover, EDF ER held a public information
event to explain that it wanted to install different turbines to those
proposed in the original plans.
This week the firm released a statement revealing that it had submitted a
new planning application to the Scottish Government.
If the new consent is granted the generating capacity of the wind farm
could be increased to above 50MW to a maximum of 60.8MW, which is enough to
supply around 33,900 homes.
Contractors RJ McLeod started preparatory work on the site at the end of
September last year and have been constructing access roads and the
sub-station, with work on turbine foundations expected to commence shortly.
A liaison group to keep the local community informed about work on the site
has also been formed.
Project manager Grant Folley said: “We held an information day last year to
explain to the community our plans to use different turbines from those
originally planned.
“Wind turbine technology has moved forward significantly since the project
was originally granted permission in 2011. The efficiency of turbines has
improved, meaning that machines of the same overall size can now generate
more electricity than those previously on the market while making no
visible difference to the development.
“Although we have just submitted the new planning application, we have been
able to start work building the wind farm.
“Any changes to the capacity of the wind turbines can be carried out by a
software upgrade and do not require any physical changes to machinery on site.”
The turbines are due to be delivered to the site from Invergordon in July
with the wind farm scheduled to be completed before the end of this year.
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