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Opposition to more and taller wind farms
Argyllshire Advertiser|June 17, 2022
A proposal to increase the height of Blarghour Wind Farm’s 17 turbines from 136.5m to 180m is being opposed by Avich and Kilchrenan Community Council, which called a public meeting on Tuesday May 31. Loch Awe currently has 20 110m-125m turbines at Carraig Ghael to the west, and 23 80m turbines at An Suidhe to the east. Three more are in the pipeline, with turbines reaching 180m-200m. ‘Loch Awe will be completely surrounded by near 200-metre tall wind turbines if this pace of industrial development continues,’ said community councillor Niall MacLeod. ‘This will bespoil the area for 30 to 40 years.
A proposal to increase the height of Blarghour Wind Farm’s 17 turbines from 136.5m to 180m is being opposed by Avich and Kilchrenan Community Council, which called a public meeting on Tuesday May 31. Loch Awe currently has 20 110m-125m turbines at Carraig Ghael to the west, and 23 80m turbines at An Suidhe to the east. Three more are in the pipeline, with turbines reaching 180m-200m. ‘Loch Awe will be completely surrounded by near 200-metre tall wind turbines if this pace of industrial development continues,’ said community councillor Niall MacLeod. ‘This will bespoil the area for 30 to 40 years.
Community councillors want to protect Loch Awe by proposing it as a regional park.
Plans to create three new wind farms, with some turbines twice as tall as existing ones, have been slammed by Loch Awe communities.
Villagers in Dalavich facing plans for more and bigger wind farms between Loch Awe and Loch Fyne hope to turn the scenic area into a regional park in a bid to protect it from ‘industrial development’.
A proposal to increase the height of Blarghour Wind Farm’s 17 turbines from 136.5m to 180m is being opposed by Avich and Kilchrenan Community Council, which called a public meeting on Tuesday May 31.
Loch Awe currently has 20 110m-125m turbines at Carraig Ghael to the west, and 23 80m turbines at An Suidhe to the east. …
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Community councillors want to protect Loch Awe by proposing it as a regional park.
Plans to create three new wind farms, with some turbines twice as tall as existing ones, have been slammed by Loch Awe communities.
Villagers in Dalavich facing plans for more and bigger wind farms between Loch Awe and Loch Fyne hope to turn the scenic area into a regional park in a bid to protect it from ‘industrial development’.
A proposal to increase the height of Blarghour Wind Farm’s 17 turbines from 136.5m to 180m is being opposed by Avich and Kilchrenan Community Council, which called a public meeting on Tuesday May 31.
Loch Awe currently has 20 110m-125m turbines at Carraig Ghael to the west, and 23 80m turbines at An Suidhe to the east. Three more are in the pipeline, with turbines reaching 180m-200m.
‘Loch Awe will be completely surrounded by near 200-metre tall wind turbines if this pace of industrial development continues,’ said community councillor Niall MacLeod. ‘This will bespoil the area for 30 to 40 years.
‘The whole community feels powerless to protect an area that is more beautiful than Loch Lomond from aggressive huge scale developments.
‘There has been a substantial investment by the community in tourism, now [others] will be reaping the benefits of the Scottish Government’s green energy policy, whilst killing off our local communities’ only source of income.’
The meeting in Dalavich Social Club was sparked by an application to increase the size of a controversial wind farm across the loch.
Four years ago, Coriolis Energy Ltd applied to build Blarghour Wind Farm, 7km (4.3 miles) north west of Inveraray and 4.5 km (2.7 miles) south of Portsonachan, on sparsely populated moorland used for sheep farming and forestry. It comprised 17 wind turbines, each 136.5m, generating 57.8MW.
Consent for wind farms generating above 50MW is decided by the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit (ECU), often termed ‘Scottish ministers’.
The plan received 66 letters in support, and 40 in objection.
Avich and Kilchrenan Community Council objected, arguing it was ‘unlikely to foster employment growth in Argyll’, and fearing ‘property blight, negative tourism and health effects’.
Argyll and Bute Council also objected: ‘The turbines selected are too large for the receiving landscape, resulting in significant landscape visual and cumulative effects which cannot be mitigated.
‘Recommendations for the Loch Awe area state that there is no scope for additional wind turbines over 130m and limited scope for turbines (80-130m high) to be accommodated either side of Loch Awe.’
Following a public inquiry, the Scottish Government's Planning and Environmental Appeals Division published the reporter’s conclusions recommending approval and the Scottish ministers agreed.
‘Although [it] will have local significant landscape effects, mainly focused on a section of the shore of Loch Awe around Dalavich and extending to Loch Avich, these are contained and mainly localised,’ the reporter said.
‘Whilst a reduction in the height of the proposed wind turbines may lead to a modest reduction in the significance of their landscape and visual impacts, this would not be proportionate to the reduction of renewable energy output achieved by smaller wind turbines such as those at An Suidhe Wind Farm which, at 80 metres in height, produce approximately 75 per cent less than those of the proposed development. In terms of the cumulative effect, the presence of An Suidhe Wind Farm has already introduced change on the hillside.’
A new application has now been submitted to Argyll and Bute Council by Coriolis Energy Ltd, scoping opinion to increase the tip height of Blarghour Wind Farm’s 17 wind turbines from 136.5m to 180m.
Community councillors resolved to object before the Wednesday June 8 deadline.
In May the Scottish Government launched a consultation to create the country’s first new national parks in 20 years. Community councillors plan to apply for regional park status, following an unsuccessful petition to the Scottish Parliament in 2017 to designate Loch Awe a National Scenic Area.
‘It will make people think again about stamping all over us,’ Mr MacLeod said.
Statkraft has proposals for a fourth Loch Awe wind farm, An Càrr Dubh, with 21 turbines at 180m while RWE Renewables UK Ltd is proposing a height increase to 26 turbines at Eredine Wind Farm to 230m.