Amended Wind Farm Plans Presented in Hoy

Amended plans for a potential Council-owned wind farm in Hoy have been presented to the local community this week.

The current proposal is to erect seven turbines compared to the 30 presented in the original plans. The turbines have also been made taller, moved further away from local homes and have been focused towards the north of the site.

The potential output of the new layout would be in the region of 28MW.

The plans have been amended following consideration of the site’s proximity to the national scenic area and residential properties, bird sensitivities and the location of communication masts in the area.

It was announced in April that the Council planned to undertake a detailed investigation to see if land to the west of Lyness would be suitable for a substantial wind energy development.

A drop-in session took place in the North Walls Centre community room on Tuesday (January 8) with staff from the Council's Strategic Projects team and local elected members, on hand to discuss the plans in more detail and answer any queries local people may have.

The site the Council has been looking at lies at and to the south of Wee Fea, the hill behind Lyness which contains underground wartime oil tanks.

Council Leader James Stockan is a Councillor for Stromness and the South Isles. He said: “We had an excellent engagement with the local community on the development of the project. People were asking a lot of questions and showed a real interest in what was happening and we look forward to going back to the community with any further developments.”

The amended proposals are available from the Related Downloads section of this page.