OIC thanks communities for attending Orkney Community Wind Farms events

The Council’s Strategic Projects team would like to thank the public for their recent attendance at Orkney Community Wind Farms public engagement sessions.

Around 100 individuals attended the drop-in events that took place throughout September across five communities – Kirkwall & St Ola, Hoy, Eday, Rendall and Westray.

An exhibition was on display at each location, providing an update that included the successes the project has had to date – among them gaining planning permission and meeting the needs case for the new cable - as well as what the next stages of the project look like.

Members of the public were also invited to fill out a questionnaire to provide feedback and help the team gauge the public’s level of support.

David Hannon, Orkney Island Council’s Strategic Projects Director, said: “It was a great to speak to so many people that live in different areas across Orkney. The wind farms really are for the communities of Orkney, and it’s fundamental that we understand how people are feeling about the project and where there may be concerns now that all three sites have planning permission and the interconnector link is approved.

“It was promising to see that, in general, there was a large level of support for the project overall. The wind farms have potential to bring huge financial benefit to Orkney including an annual £5.5 million profit to the Council as well as a location-specific Community Benefit Fund.

“There were a number of interesting discussions where several key themes tended to come up frequently. In response to this we’ve started a blog series, ‘Turbine Talk’, that touches on some of these important questions.

“It was also announced last Thursday (September 28) that the project was the winner of a COSLA Excellence Award under the category ‘Just Transition to a Net Zero Economy’. Receiving this award is a great honour and further shows the wide level of support that the project has - both locally and nationally.”

The virtual public exhibition will be published on the website for people who were not able to attend the events. To find out more about the project and read the blog series, visit www.orkneywindfarms.co.uk.