PNE plans 100MW in Scotland

UK: PNE Wind has put forward proposals for the development of three wind farms with around 100MW capacity on Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) land.

by Patrick Smith 30 September 2013

The Forestry Commission managed vast tracts of land in Scotland
In 2011, the FCS selected five development partners - E.on, Fred Olsen, Scottish Power, Partnerships for Renewables and PNE – with a view to constructing wind farms on its land. Each company was handed lots for the development of farms with a capacity of more than 5MW.

PNE's proposed plants are the first to come out of the agreement. The company said it will start the official planning process for two sites in Perth & Kinross and one site in Argyll and Bute, in tandem with the FCS. The company said it is unable to reveal the size of the individual projects.

A spokesperson for the FCS said: "Developments on the national forest estate will always be carried out in a manner sensitive to the environment and all projects will go through the full planning process.

"There is plenty of potential to develop wind energy projects on the national forest estate and a key aim is to ensure that communities across Scotland benefit too."

On the issuing of the lots in 2011, the companies agreed to pay £5,000 per MW of installed capacity per year to a fund for the benefit of communities near to any developments.

The areas are:

  • Lot 1 - South-west Scotland covering Dumfries & Galloway and Arran - ScottishPower Renewables.
  • Lot 2 - Central Scotland, covering Stirlingshire, Cowal, the Trossachs and Tayside - PNE Wind UK.
  • Lots 3 and 5 - West and North-west Scotland, covering West Argyll, Lochaber, Invernesshire, and the Northern Highlands - E.ON Climate & Renewables UK Developments Ltd.
  • Lot 4 - North-east, covering the Grampian area - Fred Olsen Renewables.