OIC Pushes Scottish Government for Faray Decision

Orkney Islands Council has written to the Scottish Government to highlight the critical importance of planning permission being granted for its wind farm project on Faray - and the tight timescales involved. 

The proposed six-turbine wind farm is the final element of Orkney's Community Wind Farm Project- with planning permission having been granted for similar projects at Quanterness and Hoy in December last year.

The Scottish Government called in the Faray application in September 2021 but are yet to make a determination on the site - and with time running out for the project to count towards the Ofgem needs case for a new interconnector between Orkney and the Scottish Mainland, the Council has pressed for urgent action.

In September 2019, the electricity market regulator, Ofgem, published its final decision on the Needs Case for a new interconnector, setting out that planning permission for 135MW of new generation was required and that this would require to be signed up to a grid connection agreement, and pass a financial audit before the end of 2021 in order to trigger the interconnector - this was later extended to 2022 as a result of the delays experienced due to the pandemic.

An independent economic report found that a new electricity transmission link between Orkney and the Scottish Mainland could be worth nearly £1.5 billion to the Scottish economy.

In order for Orkney to meet the Needs Case, the Council took a 'developer approach', working on proposals for the three 28.8MW sites, with six 150m high turbines on each.

As well as contributing to net zero targets and helping to meet the Needs Case, the projects would also generate significant income for the Council – estimated at £6m per year - helping to support and protect valuable services in the county, as well as providing a location-specific community benefit scheme especially at a time of increasing austerity and reducing financial settlements locally for the Council.

Leader of Orkney Island Council James Stockan said: “At this point in time there are around 110MW of projects consented  - including Orkney’s Community Wind Farm Project sites at Hoy and Quanterness.  The only project which has potential to fill the remaining gap and trigger the cable before the end of year deadline is the Faray project - without it, the cable simply will not happen.

“In their previous determinations on Quanterness and Hoy, Scottish Ministers quite rightly highlighted the interconnector as being a key factor in their decision - and gave substantial weight to this, especially in view of the global climate emergency.

“These projects were successful in the latest Contract for Difference (CfD) auction round 4, which provides a guaranteed price for the electricity produced for 15 years and also contributes to the OFGEM needs case”

"However, the timescales are now tight - the project has been with the Scottish Government for close to a year now and we have therefore written to them to ask for urgent action.

"We need a decision on these projects before October - otherwise the future of these critical projects could be in jeopardy."