Orkney's Community Wind Farm Project - Quanterness
The proposed Quanterness project would consist of six wind turbines of up to a maximum of 149.9 m height from ground to blade tip when vertical - with the proposed capacity being 28.8MW.
There would be a number of additional elements to the site, including a temporary construction compound, permanent hardstandings adjacent to the wind turbines for maintenance, temporary laydown areas adjacent to the wind turbines, external transformers, internal access tracks, underground cables between turbines, an on-site substation and maintenance building and a permanent meteorological monitoring mast. Access to the site would be directly from the A965 on the site’s southern boundary, via a new junction designed to meet relevant safety standards.
The site has practical advantages and required less survey work than other sites because it is the least ecologically sensitive. Additionally because Quanterness is close to Kirkwall, it could also enable a separate project in which the council could directly supply electricity to its own buildings as a means to reduce costs.
Key facts about the site:
- Quanterness is approximately 2.7km north-west of Kirkwall town centre, off the main Kirkwall to Stromness road (A965).
- The site extends to approximately 172.27 hectares (ha) and is centred on British National Grid (BNG) 341650, 1013600. It comprises pasture farmland, used for both livestock and crops and is divided into large regular fields, with a network of tracks. The site is generally flat, with Wideford Hill rising steeply to the south of the site.
- There are no substantial watercourses onsite, although there are several field drains and several small ephemeral waterbodies in the site which are rain-water fed hollows.
- There are no residential properties within the site boundary. The closest residential properties are Quanterness Farm Cottages (132 m south of the site boundary), Quanterness Farm (367 m south of the site boundary), Harwood (427 m south of the site boundary) and Rennibister (1084 m west of the site boundary).
A planning application for the project was submitted to the local planning authority in January 2020 and subsequently called in by the Scottish Government on our request. We received planning permission for the Quanterness wind farm in December 2021.
The full application documents are available through the DPEA website.
For the ‘Orkney’s Community Wind Farm – Quanterness’ planning application search for CIN-ORK-001
