Glenfiddich Wind Farm Scoping Report April 2021 Fred. Olsen Renewables Ltd Phone: + 44-20-7963 8904 Enterprise Number: 02672436 2nd Floor 64-65 Vincent Square Telefax: + 44-20-7931 7449 Registered in the United Kingdom London SW1P 2NU United Kingdom Web: fredolsenrenewables.com N-0107 Oslo, Norway Document history Author L. Meldrum 05/03/21 Checked J. Wright 11/03/21 Approved R. Baird 12/04/21 Client Details Contact Rachel Baird Client Name Fred Olsen Renewables Limited Address c/o Fred Olsen Renewables, 2nd Floor, 36 Broadway, London, SW1 0BH Issue Date Revision Details 1 11/03/21 Draft for client review 2 01/04/21 Final for Issue i Glenfiddich Wind Farm Scoping Report Contents 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 THE EIA PROCESS 3 3 PROJECT AND SITE DESCRIPTION 8 4 PLANNING AND ENERGY POLICY FRAMEWORK 11 5 LANDSCAPE AND VISUAL AMENITY 13 6 HYDROLOGY, HYDROGEOLOGY AND PEAT 28 7 ECOLOGY 37 8 ORNITHOLOGY 49 9 CULTURAL HERITAGE 68 10 NOISE AND VIBRATION 74 11 TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT 78 12 SOCIO ECONOMICS, TOURISM AND RECREATION 81 13 OTHER ISSUES 84 APPENDIX A: CONSULTEE LIST APPENDIX B: QUESTIONS FOR CONSULTEES APPENDIX C: HERITAGE ASSETS SCOPED IN AND OUT OF ASSESSMENT ii Glenfiddich Wind Farm Scoping Report 1.Introduction 1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND Fred. Olsen Renewables Limited (FORL) (hereinafter referred to as 'the Applicant') is proposing to develop the Glenfiddich Wind Farm (hereinafter referred to as 'the Development'). The Development is located approximately 5km south of Dufftown within the Moray Council administrative area. The location of the Development is shown on Figure 1.1. 1.2 APPLICATION FOR SECTION 36 CONSENT The Development currently comprises up to 11 turbines, up to 200m to turbine blade tip. The Applicant therefore intends to apply to the Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit (ECU) for Section 36 (S36) consent for the proposed Development under the Electricity Act 1989 ('the Act'). The application will be made to the ECU as the Development will have a generation capacity in excess of 50 megawatts (MW). In addition, a direction will be sought for deemed planning permission under Section 57 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended. It is acknowledged that the Development should be subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) under The Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (as amended) (‘the EIA Regulations’), and the application for S36 consent will be accompanied by an EIA Report. Further details on the approach to the EIA are provided in Chapter 2. The EIA Regulations provide for obtaining a Scoping Opinion from Scottish Ministers as to the environmental effects to be considered in the EIA (Regulation 12). This document accompanies the Applicant’s written request to the Scottish Government for a ‘Scoping Opinion’ as to which environmental effects are to be considered in the EIA. It provides details of the Development, the Site (shown within the proposed red-line application boundary on Figure 1.1) and surrounding area, and the environmental desk-based and field survey work undertaken to date. Likely significant effects as a result of the proposed Development are identified and the proposed approach to assessing these is outlined. 1 Glenfiddich Wind Farm Scoping Report 1.3 THE APPLICANT The application will be made by FORL, a leading developer, owner and operator of renewable energy assets, primarily onshore wind farms. The Applicant has been developing and operating wind farms in the UK since the mid 1990’s demonstrating long term commitment to the renewable energy generation market in the UK, Scotland and the north- east of Scotland in particular. The company’s first large scale wind farm, Windy Standard, commenced operation in 1996. Including Windy Standard, FORL now has 12 operational wind farms located in Scotland, Norway and Sweden, bringing the company’s total installed capacity to 679MW. Fred. Olsen is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bonheur ASA and is responsible for the group’s renewable energy activities. 1.4 DOCUMENT STRUCTURE The remainder of this report is structured as follows: • Chapter 2 provides information on the EIA process and assessment methodology; • Chapter 3 provides a brief description of the Site and the nature and purpose of the Development; • Chapter 4 describes the policy and legislation relevant to the Development; • Chapters 5-13 outlines the topic areas to be considered in the EIA. Appendix A details the consultees that will be approached by the ECU to inform the scope of the EIA, as well as those that will be approached for information to inform the EIA. 2 Glenfiddich Wind Farm Scoping Report 2.The EIA Process 2.1 WHAT IS EIA? EIA is the process of systematically compiling, evaluating and presenting all the likely significant environmental effects, both positive and negative, of a development, to assist the determining authority in considering the application. It enables the significance of these effects, and the scope for reducing negative, or enhancing positive, effects to be clearly understood. Early detection of potentially adverse environmental effects informs iterations to the design of the development to avoid or reduce effects. The information compiled during the EIA is presented within an EIA Report to accompany the application for consent. EIA is an iterative process and runs in tandem with project design. As potential effects are identified, the design of the Development will be adjusted to reduce or avoid adverse effects where possible, and mitigation measures will be proposed as appropriate. The EIA will be conducted in accordance with current Scottish Government regulations, policy and guidance, including: • The Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (as amended); • Scottish Government Web Based Guidance on wind turbines (May 2014); • Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) (June 2014); • Planning Advice Note (PAN) 3/2010 Community Engagement (2010); • Planning Circular 3/2013 Development Management Procedures; • Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH1) (2018) (Version 5), A Handbook on Environmental Impact Assessment; 1 SNH was renamed NatureScot in August 2020; however, references to guidance documents published prior to this are still referenced as SNH publications within this report and both terms are used throughout. 3 Glenfiddich Wind Farm Scoping Report • Institute of Environmental Management and In this case, the Development (as described further in Assessment (2004) Guidelines for Environmental Chapter 3) is of a type described within Schedule 2 as an Impact Assessment; and “installation for the harnessing of wind power for energy • PAN 1/2013 Environmental Impact Assessment production (wind farms)”. It is not located within a ‘sensitive (updated June 2017). area’ as defined by the EIA Regulations; however, the project would exceed both of the applicable thresholds as it 2.2 THE EIA PROCESS involves more than two wind turbines with hub heights of more than fifteen metres. The requirement for EIA is The EIA process usually follows the following stages: therefore determined on the basis of whether the project • Screening may be the first stage of the EIA process would be likely to give rise to significant effects on the where the relevant authorities need to decide whether environment by virtue of its size, nature or location. EIA is required. The scale, nature and location of the Development are such • Once it has been agreed that EIA is required, scoping is that, to allow the environmental effects of the project to be undertaken to define what should be assessed as part appropriately considered, the Applicant has taken the of the EIA and reported in the EIA Report. decision to prepare an EIA. As such, no Screening Opinion • With the scope set, relevant information on the has been sought from the ECU. environmental baseline conditions is collected. This 2.4 SCOPING information is then used initially to understand the likely environmental effects and to inform the design of the The purpose of scoping is to focus the EIA on the likely and development to minimise the potential for significant relevant significant environmental effects associated with adverse effects. the proposed Development. On the basis of the expert • The formal assessment process is undertaken on the judgement of the assessment team, experience from similar final design to identify the likely significant effects of the projects, as well as additional policy, guidance and development. standards of relevance, each topic chapter within this report will outline both: • Where significant adverse effects cannot be minimised through alterations to the design, mitigation measures • Potential likely significant effects associated with the are considered. construction and/or operation of the Development, • Monitoring to measure the actual significance of the identified for detailed consideration within the EIA effect during and post-construction is proposed, to allow Report. management of mitigation where appropriate. • Effects which are considered unlikely to be significant and requiring no further assessment. Whilst these Once the EIA is completed, the EIA Report is submitted to topics fall outside of the scope of assessment, they will the determining authority for consideration with the be referred to in turn within the EIA Report. application for consent. 2.3 SCREENING 2.5 BASELINE CONDITIONS The EIA Regulations require that aspects of the environment Development projects that are described within Schedule 1 which are likely to be significantly affected by the of the EIA Regulations will always require EIA and are Development are clearly defined within the EIA Report. To referred to as ‘Schedule 1 Developments’. Development achieve this, it is necessary to gather environmental projects listed in Schedule 2 that are located in a ‘sensitive information on the current and existing status of each topic area’, or which exceed one of the relevant criteria or proposed for consideration as part of the EIA, i.e. ‘baseline thresholds given in Schedule 2 are referred to as ‘Schedule conditions'.