WIND FARM PROPOSAL (Updated May 2007)

Background
For over a decade Spittal Hill has been recognised as a good site for a windfarm and wind speed data from an anemometer mast gathered during the early 1990s established the potential of the site. Data from the current mast has confirmed that the site has a first class wind resource.

In an effort to realise this potential, Tom and Steven Pottinger, who own Banniskirk Mains, set up Spittal Hill Windfarm Ltd to undertake the development. A scoping document was submitted to the Scottish Executive in July 2004 with a layout of 47 turbines on both sides of the A9. In response to comments from consultees, (including local people, Scottish Natural Heritage, Highland Council, and RSPB) and after carrying out a detailed environmental study, the layout has been substantially revised to address key concerns. The proposed layout has been restricted to the east of Spittal Hill itself, moved further from dwellings, and reduced in size to 30 turbines in order to address landscape, ornithology and noise issues. This has also meant that more of Tom and Steven's neighbours have become involved and the project now includes eight different farmers and crofters with turbines proposed on their land. A successful project would therefore have a direct benefit to quite a few local families. (See location plan below.)

The current proposal has 30 turbines with an installed capacity of up to 75 megawatts (MW) of renewable electricity. With a capacity of this size in such a windy part of Scotland, the project will meet the average needs of some 42,000 households and offset the annual release of over 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas contributing to climate change, which would otherwise come from power stations burning fossil fuels.

Next Steps
As a local developer, Spittal Hill Windfarm Ltd is keen to explore how the benefits from the proposed development can be shared within the wider Caithness community (see section on Community benefit below). In order to achieve this, an extensive public consultation exercise was undertaken in the summer of 2006, including the issue of a Newsletter and Questionnaire to 1000 local households and a Community event to which 100 people were invited, at random, so that representative views could be canvassed.

A formal public exhibition was held on the 28th June in Watten Village Hall, where more details of the windfarm proposal were on display, including computer-generated photomontages from many viewpoints. Representatives of the developers, the environmental consultants (RPS Ltd), and Holyrood Consultations were present and this was an opportunity to feed back views and concerns.

Following this, a detailed Section 36 (planning) application has been made to the Scottish Executive in April 2007, with submission of a full environmental assessment. All relevant consultees and the public will again be given an opportunity to comment.

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