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Gordonstown Hill
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In June 2009, Novera received planning consent for a wind farm, to be known as Gordonstown Hill Wind Farm, at Gordonstown Hill, near Kirkton of Auchterless and approximately 9km south of Turriff, Aberdeenshire.
The development team was praised by the Planning Committee for the way Novera had approached the local community and engaged with residents and Councillors throughout the process. The public consultation process was described as exemplary and due to suggestions, the design proposal was changed to reduce the plans for six turbines down to five.
Gordonstown Hill has been selected as a suitable site as it has a number of attributes which allow for the development of a wind farm with minimal environmental effects. As part of the site selection process, feasibility studies were undertaken and these indicated that Gordonstown Hill had excellent potential because of the exposed nature of the site and its high wind speeds.
There are no environmental designations on the site which currently comprises agricultural farmland owned by three landowners and the proposed turbine envelope will cover approximately 34ha, i.e. the turbines will be spread out over less than 10% of the overall site area.
The final layout is for five turbines with a blade tip height of up to 105m. Depending on turbine choice, the generation capacity could be up to 12MW which would be enough power to supply approximately 7,000 homes*.
If you are interested in getting involved in the proposal, whether as a supporter or a potential contractor in the development of Gordonstown Hill, you can contact us at: GordonstownHillWindFarm@noveraenergy.com.
Copies of the documentation relating to public consultations can be downloaded from the links on the right. Alternatively please email us with requests for hard copies.
* This calculation is based on the likely annual generation of the proposed turbines and BERR's (previously known as the DTI) figure for average annual household electricity demand of 4,494 kWh (Regional Electricity Consumption Statistics 2006: www.berr.gov.uk/energy/statistics/regional/regional-local-electricity/page36213.html); the figure is rounded down to the nearest 500 homes. The calculation uses a capacity factor of 30% which is considered appropriate to the geographical location and size of the turbines proposed. This is based on the capacity factor for Scotland in BERR's UK Onshore Wind Capacity Factors 1998-2004 (www.berr.gov.uk/files/file43950.pdf). Further on-site assessment of the wind regime will allow more accurate assessment of the likely capacity factor in due course.
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"[Novera] is to be praised for both publicising and explaining to the local community precisely what it is they wish to achieve…"
(Extract from a letter from an MP, 6th September 2006, in connection with a wind farm planning application) |
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