Scottish Government has granted consent for the High Constellation wind farm in Argyll & Bute.
The project, being developed by Blue Energy, consists of 10 turbines, each with a tip height up to of 149.9 meters, and an onsite battery storage facility.
Arcus has supported Blue Energy through the pre-application and consenting process. Arcus led the planning submission and EIA on behalf of the applicant, and undertook several of the technical assessments in-house including hydrology, archaeology, noise, traffic, socio-economics, climate change and other issues.
High Constellation wind farm is located on the Kintyre peninsula approximately 20km South of Tarbert and 30km North of Campbeltown.
The site is adjacent to the operational Cour wind farm.
The estate on which High Constellation is located covers a substantial area, and overall area available for development could have supported a wind farm of around 38 turbines of approximately 5MW each. Through the EIA process the layout has been refined.
At scoping stage, it comprised 17 turbines, which was then gradually reduced to the final, application layout, which comprises ten turbines. The turbine numbers were reduced mainly in response to avoiding areas of deeper peat, and minimizing potential impacts on the ornithological assemblage in the area.