Summary
The Lurg Hill Wind Farm will have 3 turbines located approximately 8.7km south of Cullen and 10km northeast of Keith, Moray. The development would be located on existing private forestry plantations.
Turbines would have a maximum tip height of 149.9m and an overall capacity of up to 15MW.
Lurg Hill Wind Farm was awarded a Contract for Difference under the recent Allocation Round 5 auction, promoted by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. EDPR are progressing with plans to advance construction of Lurg Hill Wind Farm, including discharging planning conditions and appointing contractors, to ensure the project is built in time to achieve the grid connection date.
General Approach
The design of the consented development has evolved in response to comments provided through various consultation discussions, desk studies and site work/technical appraisals undertaken our environmental and technical consultants, with the overall aim to reduce potential environmental effects on areas such as landscape, hydrology, peat telecommunications and noise.
Compensatory planting will be undertaken and agreed with the landowner and Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) to agree the extent, location and composition of replacing the trees felled around the turbine locations and associated infrastructure with native tree species.
Climate Emergency
Climate Emergency
The Scottish Government declared a ‘climate emergency’ and set a target for Scotland to reduce emissions by 75% by 2030, and to become a ‘net-zero society by 2045’ following advice in May 2019 from the Committee on Climate Change.[4]
The National Audit Office report ‘Achieving Net Zero’[5] states that this net zero target is “a colossal challenge”, and that the power sector will require a “four-fold increase in renewables”.
The Scottish Government published the Climate Change Plan update [6] in December 2020 which reflects the increased ambition of the new targets set in the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 [7].
“Amid the enormous challenges of the global pandemic, the climate emergency has not gone away – far from it – and the Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to ending Scotland’s contribution to climate change by 2045 in a just and fair way.
The scale of the challenge ahead, both to rebuild our economy in the wake of COVID-19, and to deliver our world leading climate change targets, is unprecedented. However, we know the huge opportunities that a transition to a fairer, more sustainable and greener economy can bring for Scotland, including in creating green jobs and wellbeing for everyone. We are therefore determined to grasp these opportunities and transform our country for the better.”
It also envisages a transformed electricity system with a “substantial increase in renewable generation, particularly through new offshore and onshore wind capacity”
Moray Council also declared a ‘climate and ecological emergency’ in June 2019[8], and formally adopted a Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan with the aim of the council being carbon neutral by 2030 and which, together with the Moray Local Development Plan, is designed to provide a co-ordinated and appropriate response to help deal with the challenges that climate change is expected to bring.
The UK Government has also set a target of net zero emissions by 2050.[9] The Committee on Climate Change estimates that this would require a quadrupling of electricity generation from low carbon sources such as wind power in order to meet wider government climate change goals such as the electrification of the transport and heat sectors.[10]
And in April 2021, the UK Government announced that it “will set the world’s most ambitious climate change target” to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels as part of its sixth carbon budget. The UK’s carbon budgets place a restriction on the total amount of greenhouse gases the UK can emit over a five-year period[11].
At an international level The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its Sixth Assessment Report [8] in August 2021 which provides the most up-to-date understanding of the global climate system and scientific evidence on climate change. It concludes that, “Unless there are immediate, rapid, and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to 1.5°C will be beyond reach.”
The Lurg Hill Wind Farm would contribute to progress towards Scotland’s climate change targets and specifically the decarbonisation of the electricity network by producing carbon-free electricity.
Community Benefit and Ownership
Summary
EDPR are committed to developing a significant community benefit package which could be worth in excess of £2.5 million over the lifetime of the wind farm, dependent on the ultimate capacity of the development.
Good Practice Principles
Our work to develop more detailed proposals for the community benefit arrangements will be guided by the Scottish Government’s Good Practice Principles for Community Benefit. [12] Our starting point will be to engage with existing community companies and charities to gather their views on the appropriate area of benefit, management structures and local priorities. We will then develop initial proposals and consult on these in due course, though we would welcome views at any time on how the community benefit arrangements could be structured and how these could be focused on any time in the development of the project.
References
[4] Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019
[5] Achieving net zero
[6] Securing a green recovery on a path to net zero: climate change plan 2018–2032 – update
[7] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – Sixth Assessment Report
[8] Draft Climate Change Strategy
[9] The Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019
[101] Net Zero The UK’s contribution to stopping global warming Committee on Climate Change May 2019
[11] UK enshrines new target in law to slash emissions by 78% by 2035
[12] Good Practice Principles for Community Benefit