New Borders wind farms could power four Scottish cities!

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

The current batch of eight major wind farm applications being processed by planners in the Scottish Borders are capable of generating enough electricity to supply every household in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee with ample capacity to spare.

While critics maintain the region is already 'saturated' with hundreds of turbines, an even larger project involving a total of 80 towers is expected to become the subject of a so-called Section 36 application to Scottish ministers later this summer.

The EDF Renewables planned Liddesdale Wind Farm on a vast tract of land near the village of Newcastleton could power 249,000 households on its own. It is in the same location as a 2016 proposal which never reached the application stage.

It has been calculated that the eight schemes currently under consideration by planning officers would, if approved, provide energy to more than 850,000 homes. Scotland's four largest cities have around 711,000 households between them while the Scottish Borders local government area has a mere 55,296, according to the latest published figures.

The statistics would tend to suggest that Borders landscapes are being asked to accommodate more than their fair share of turbines. But there seems to be no slowing in demand for new sites by 'green' energy companies.

Those projects with a generating capacity above 50 megawatts (MW) have to be sanctioned by ministers after progressing through the Energy Consents Unit. If a local authority decides to oppose a scheme then a public local inquiry is necessary to hear objections as well as the developer's case.

EDF has been told that in the case of its 400 MW Liddesdale project, Scottish Borders Council has maintained previous advice that any application should in fact be three separate applications.

A report states: "Scottish Ministers would strongly encourage the company to take the advice from these consultees into account prior to submitting any application[s] for consent".

The eight current 'live' wind farm proposals above 50MW capacity are:

Teviot (near Hawick) 62 turbines;  developer - Muirhall Energy; capacity - 409MW.  Mill Moor Rig (near Hawick) 13 turbines; developer - ESB Ltd.; capacity - 78MW. Scawd Law (near Walkerburn)         8 turbines; developer - Fred Olsen; capacity - 60MW. Dunside (Lammermuirs) 15 turbines; developer -  EDF Energy; capacity - 108MW. Ditcher Law (near Oxton) 9 turbines; developer - E Power Ltd.; capacity - 59MW. Longcroft (near Oxton) 19 turbines; developer - RES; capacity - 100MW.              Lees Hill (near Duns) 6 turbines; developer - Fred Olsen; capacity - 60MW. Leithenwater (near Peebles) 13 turbines; developer - Belltown Power; capacity - 95MW.

We asked whether the sizeable number of applications was having an impact on the workload facing planners in the Scottish Borders.

According to the council: "Whilst application numbers across the teams remain high, they continue to manage consultation requests for Section 36 applications with the resources currently available."

Councillors are due to decide whether to oppose or back the large-scale Teviot Wind Farm proposals by August. There have already been numerous objections and some backing for the scheme locally.

Last month, members of the Borders planning committee voted by a majority of 4-2 to reject proposals for a 14-turbine wind farm called Greystone Knowe, near Fountainhall even though officers had recommended the go-ahead with conditions attached.