Orkney's Community Wind Farm Project - Faray

This uninhabited island, lying to the north and west of Eday and south-southeast of Westray, was bought by the Council in January 2019 for its strategic development potential.

The Proposed Development would consist of six wind turbines with a blade tip height of 149.9m, providing a total generation capacity in the order of 28MW.

In addition to the turbines, the site could include turbine foundations, crane hard-standings, a new jetty/landing site for bringing turbine components and construction materials onto the island, internal access tracks, on-site access tracks between turbines, underground cabling between the turbines, on-site substation and maintenance building with welfare facility, a temporary construction compound and potential on site borrow pit(s) dependent on the suitability of site-won materials to provide aggregate for the construction of the development.

Key facts:

• Faray is approximately 17km northeast of Orkney Mainland, and approximately 25km from Kirkwall.
• The site boundary comprises the entire island, extending o approximately 168hectares and centred on British National Grid (BNG) 352985, 1037250.
• The are no current residents on the island, with the last former residents understood to have left in the late 1940s.
• OS mapping suggests there are several relic structures, former farms and cottages, an old road/track, and a burial ground. A small jetty is located on the southeast coast.
• The coastline is generally defined by rocky cliffs with geos and caves, except on the west coast near the north of the island and on the far southeast coast, where there are stretches of beach.
• Access to the site is currently only achievable by private boat landing at the existing jetty at the southeast of the island

A planning application for the project was submitted in May 2021 and was approved by the Scottish Government in December 2022.