Nigg Hill

Summary

Current status : A planning application will be submitted by the end of the year.
Location : 32 km northeast of Inverness, SCOTLAND
Number of turbines : maximum of 5
Expected capacity : maximum of 10 MW
Planning authority : Highland Council
Project manager : Alisdair MacPherson

Falck is currently gathering information which will enable us to submit a planning application by the end of the year, with an anticipated construction start, if successful, by 2010.

The site is located approximately 32 km northeast of Inverness, on a promontory of land between the Dornoch and Moray Firths, commonly referred to as “Nigg Hill.”

The wind farm site is approximately 0.3 km2 in area, and consists of 2 inter-locking hills sloping down in a north westerly direction to low ground. The highest point on the site is approximately 200 m above ordnance datum near the eastern edge of the site. At present, the land is mainly used for livestock grazing, although there are some woodlands and areas of rough scrub on site.

In terms of Highland Council’s Renewables Energy Strategy, the bulk of Nigg Hill comprises a “preferred area” for “local scale onshore wind farm developments based on individual turbines and small clusters, for meeting regional/local embedded energy demand.” It is considered that the project would consist of up to five turbines, each up to 125 m high, generating up to 10 MW in total. It is anticipated that the project would be connected by a new underground electrical connection to the local grid network some 2 -3 km away. The 10 MW generated would be sufficient to power over 6,000 homes with clean, green energy and thus help meet the Government’s green energy target of 10% of electricity supplied from renewable energy by 2010.