Decision time looms on divisive Perthshire windfarm

Developer lodges new representations

Perth and Kinross council has until November 16th to make any further representations on a divisive Perthshire wind farm plan proposing 12 turbines the height of London’s Gherkin.

Developers SSE have submitted revised site plans and requested visualisations for a wind farm which could power 75 000 homes at Glentarken, between St Fillans and Lochearnhead.

With a further significant development nearby at Glen Lednock sitting in Scottish Government’s in-tray, critics of the plan will be watching developments intently.

Visual representation from Ben Lawers

Bridging boundaries

SSE already operates the Griffin and Calliachar wind farms near Aberfeldy and the Drumderg farm near Alyth and are seeking Government support for a 104 MW project with a Battery Energy Storage System at Glentarken, on Drummond Estate land.

The company claims the scheme will bring £14m to Perthshire during the construction phase with 9 jobs created over the operational term.

Interestingly, the wind farm straddles two local authorities, each with differing views on its potential impact.

Perth and Kinross Council, which will house the turbines, voted last year to unanimously oppose the project whilst Stirling Council, which will host the entrance and associated tracks, lodged no formal objection.

Visual considerations

The plans have caused significant concern within natural heritage and community circles.

Government nature advisers, NatureScot, and the Council have opposed on the grounds of the impacts on Special Landscape Qualities of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park and Loch Rannoch and Glen Lyon National Scenic Area, respectively.

Mountaineering Scotland have also registered their opposition due to the visual impacts from nearby Munros which include Ben Vorlich and Ben Chonzie.

The Save Glen Lednock campaign has rallied against the cumulative visual and wildlife impacts of both the Glentarken and Glen Lednock proposals, also citing traffic backlogs through Crieff during the 2-year construction phase.

New images

Whether or not the requested new visualisations and site plans presented by SSE alter opinion substantively remains to be seen.

Whilst representative views from Ben More and Schiehallion portray the project’s visual impact in a relatively benign manner, new views from Ben Lawers, Mor Bheinn and corbett, Meall an t-Seallaidh, depict more prominent visual changes.

The height of the turbines to wing tip are 180m, the same height as London’s iconic ‘Gherkin’ skyscraper, designed by Foster + Partners. The new plans can be viewed and commented upon until November 16th.

Should the project be successful, SSE – which would invest £372k per year into a community benefit fund, predict a connection to the grid by late 2031.

“We would like to thank everyone again for engaging with us during the development phase of this project and for listening and sharing thoughts and opinions,” said SSE on its project website.