Scotland: Vattenfall extends environmental surveys on Argyll wind farm proposal

Vattenfall, the European energy company, has amended the schedule of a wind farm development in the north of Kintyre so that it can continue environmental surveys.

The ecological surveys will now continue during this winter and into 2016. As a result, the developer of the Cnoc an Fhionn Wind Energy Project, located 4km south of Tarbert, will not submit a planning application to Argyll & Bute Council by the end of this year, as previously planned. Vattenfall said that once the surveys are complete it will confirm its next steps on the scheme.

Alison Daugherty, Vattenfall’s Project Manager for the Cnoc an Fhionn Wind Energy Project, said: “It’s vitally important that responsible wind farm developers gather high quality site-specific information so that decisions about the design and suitability of a wind farm are evidence based. The Cnoc an Fhionn site is complex and we feel it’s necessary to amend our schedule to gather all the evidence we need. This considered approach to development supports our decision making on the Cnoc an Fhionn Wind Energy Project.”

Vattenfall operates two wind farms in Scotland. The Edinbane Wind Farm on the Isle of Skye celebrates its fifth birthday this year whilst Clashindarroch Wind Farm, in Aberdeenshire, was inaugurated last month.