HOW WAS THE SITE CHOSEN FOR A POTENTIAL WIND FARM?
Meikle Carewe was identified as a good location for a wind farm more than ten years ago and even with the advent of other wind farms in the area it still stands out as a great opportunity for a reliable source of renewable energy.
The RES site selection criteria seeks to balance available wind resource, with environmental, technical and other constraining factors to ensure that a wind farm proposed by RES has minimal impact on the environment and has the best chance to succeed.
Development History
RES first submitted a planning application in March 2000 to Aberdeenshire Council for a 14 turbine wind farm at Meikle Carewe. As a result of feedback from the formal consultation the application was amended in 2001 to ten larger turbines. However, the larger turbines by their nature are more visible. As the council determined that visual impact was an issue, RES opted for smaller turbines, more in keeping with local topography.
Despite receiving a positive recommendation by Aberdeenshire Council's planning department, it was ultimately refused in December 2001. RES respected the councillors' reasons and proceeded to carefully re-examine its plans to see how the reasons for refusal could be addressed. In addition to visual amenity, concerns were raised about aviation safety and TV interference.
In 2006 RES submitted an amended planning application taking into account the feedback received from counsultees and the local community on the previous application.
The new application addresses the reasons for refusing planning permission in 2001:
Visual Amenity
The revised application reduces the visual impact, as demonstrated in the photomontages of the proposed scheme below, and ensures the scheme is in keeping with the surrounding hills and land features. The new 12 turbine layout retains the same reduced footprint as the previous ten turbine layout from 2001.
Air Traffic Implications
RES has been working closely with BAA to address the concerns raised about the potential risk to safety of air travel.
A simple technical solution has been identified that addresses the air traffic concerns. Local residents might have a noticed a helicopter flying over the area testing the system.
Television Reception
Television reception should not be a concern with the revised scheme. There are three straightforward solutions available: terrestrial digital TV (in fact, the analogue system in the area switches off completely in September 2010), an improved aerial receiving Angus and satellite digital TV.
TV reception can be protected in planning consents by a specific 'Section 75' planning condition. RES and the planning authority would enter an agreement in which RES would meet the cost of investigating and rectifying any problems that may arise. RES has similar agreements in place at existing projects and any work required would be funded entirely by RES.
Dave Eastman, Meikle Carewe Project Manager says:
"Since submitting our originally planning application, we have taken into consideration all the reasons for refusal. We have addressed the concern of visual impact through a revised layout. The wind farm will not pose any risk to the safety of air traffic and in the unlikely event that any issues with TV inference arise RES is also willing to remedy at our cost."
