Ouglassy Wind Farm

Vestas Development A/S is exploring an opportunity to develop a wind farm located 2 km north of Spittal, in Caithness with its development partner Force 9 Energy

Current Status

Our initial assessments for the site suggest it could accommodate up to nine turbines and an energy storage system, the combined output of which would be over 50 MW. As the output capacity would be over 50 MW, the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit (ECU) would determine the application for consent, with the Highland Council a statutory consultee.
 
In February 2024 we submitted a Scoping Request to the ECU. The Scoping Request seeks consultee feedback on the development proposals and seeks to agree the environmental topics that will be addressed in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which will accompany any future application for the development.

The Scoping Report is available to view here.

Public Consultation

Vestas and Force 9 are committed to open and transparent communication with the local community. We will be holding a number of consultation events to provide detailed information about our proposals and offer members of the public the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback.

The initial events will be taking place in March 2024, with further events planned later in the year. When additional events are planned this website will be updated to show the dates, locations and times.

First round of consultation events:

6th March 2024 – Spittal Village Hall, KW1 5XR, 12.00pm – 2.30pm

6th March 2024 – Watten Village Hall, KW1 5XN, 4.00pm – 8.00pm

The Site

The proposed site is located approximately 2 km north of Spittal in Caithness. The site sits on part of Dunn Farm, between the A9 and A882 roads, which is characterised under Nature Scot’s nationwide landscape assessment as Landscape Character Type 143; Farmed Lowland Plain.

The predominant land use within the site is rough grazing, with a small area of scrub/forestry in the eastern slope of Spittal Hill.

About Vestas

Vestas is a global leader in sustainable energy solutions. Vestas designs, manufactures, installs and services wind turbines around the world and has delivered more than 177 GW of wind power capacity in 88 countries, which is estimated to have avoided 2.13 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions. Since 2001, Vestas has been active in the United Kingdom and employs around 1,600 staff spanning technology, manufacturing, operations and maintenance, and support functions.

Vestas is funding the development and design of this wind farm project and is committed to supplying the wind turbines, managing project construction and providing long-term operation and maintenance services for the plant.

About Force 9 Energy

Force 9 is an independent, UK based wind farm developer, with a focus on developing sensitively designed onshore wind farms. UK wind farms in operation, or consented by the Force 9 team, have the potential to contribute more than 500 MW of clean, renewable generating capacity in the UK. Scotland has abundant natural resources and is ideally placed to be at the forefront of generating clean, renewable energy. Force 9 always takes careful account of the landscape, environments and communities where our developments may be sited, and is committed to ensuring that sympathetic and sustainable design principles are incorporated into our projects.

You can find out more about Force 9 Energy by visiting our website here.

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Deuchries Wind Farm, Aberdeenshire

Project Benefits

Community Benefit

Force 9’s development partner, Vestas, is committed to paying Community Benefit at the Scottish Government recommended rate: currently at a value equivalent to £5,000 per Mega Watt of installed capacity, for every year of operation (anticipated to be 30 years) to help fund community projects. For illustrative purposes, if a 40 MW wind farm is constructed, this would be worth £200k per year (index linked) for local communities, for each year of operation – a total of up to £6 million over the projects lifetime.

Opportunities for Local Businesses

Vestas and Force 9 Energy are committed to giving local businesses every possible opportunity to share in the financial and employment benefits of the construction and operation of Ouglassy wind farm. If constructed, Ouglassy will offer opportunities for local businesses such as accommodation providers, hire companies, fencing contractors, tradespeople and machinery plant owners.

If you represent a local business, please contact us and we will register your interest and keep you informed about valuable opportunities for local businesses connected with the wind farm.

Key Facts

  • Up to nine turbines with an energy storage facility, the combined capacity of which will be in excess of 50 MW
  • Enough renewable electricity to power approximately 37,000* homes per year
  • Up to 50 MW battery storage included on site
  • Up to £200,000 Community Benefit Fund per annum depending on the installed capacity of the wind farm on site
  • Biodiversity net gain designed In

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*Please note that this figure is based on 5 turbines with an installed capacity of 38.7MW operating at UK average capacity factor of 26.34% capacity and assuming 3,509 is the average UK household electricity consumption in kW hours (based on most recent statistics from the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, Dec 2022 (DESNZ). 

Timeline

February 2024

Submission of Scoping Request to ECU

March 2024

First Public Consultation

Early 2025

Second public consultation

Mid 2025

Target submission

2028 (dependent on grid connection date)

Anticipated construction start date

2030

Anticipated start of operations

Have your say

It is very important to us that the local community continues have an opportunity to provide feedback that will help inform the design, construction, and operation of the proposed Ouglassy Wind Farm.

We would therefore appreciate your views and comments on the following:

Step 1 of 6

  • Privacy Statement

    By filling-in this online form you are agreeing that Cavendish can hold and process your personal data in relation to this public consultation exercise.

    • Cavendish will only share your personal data with the project team companies for planning evaluation purposes only.
    • Your identifiable, personal data will not be used for any other purposes without your consent.

    Cavendish and the project team will use your data to:

    • Send you updates about the project (where you provide us with your contact details).
    • Develop a Statement of Pre-Application Consultation (PAC) Report (or similar document) about this public consultation that will be submitted to the planning authority or similar body; this will be a publicly available document. Your comments will be anonymous, and we will only identify you in these reports with your express permission.

    If you provide us with your contact details, we might also contact you to ask you more about the comments you’ve made.

    Cavendish acts on behalf of the project team to run public consultation activities.

We look forward to receiving your comments on our proposals today or, if you prefer, you can follow up with comments to:

info@ouglassywindfarm.co.uk or in writing to:

1 West Regent Street, Glasgow, G2 1RW

Please return your feedback to us by 28th March 2024.

Contact

You can contact us via phone: 0141 264 2831 or email: info@ouglassywindfarm.co.uk