Farr Wind Farm Life Extension
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Ventient Energy Limited Farr Wind Farm Life Extension Section 36 Variation Application Supporting Information: Environmental Report 662852 AUGUST 2020 RSK GENERAL NOTES Project No.: G/P/662852/05//03 Rev01 Title: Farr Wind Farm Life Extension Section 36 Variation Application Supporting Information Environmental Report Client: Ventient Energy Limited Date: 17 August 2020 Office: Glasgow Status: Final Author Robert Beck Technical Reviewer Ross Allan Date: 01 July 2020 Date: 03 July 2020 Project Manager Robert Beck Date: 03 August 2020 RSK Environment Ltd (RSK) has prepared this report for the sole use of the client, showing reasonable skill and care, for the intended purposes as stated in the agreement under which this work was completed. The report may not be relied upon by any other party without the express agreement of the client and RSK. No other warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to the professional advice included in this report. Where any data supplied by the client or from other sources have been used, it has been assumed that the information is correct. No responsibility can be accepted by RSK for inaccuracies in the data supplied by any other party. The conclusions and recommendations in this report are based on the assumption that all relevant information has been supplied by those bodies from whom it was requested. No part of this report may be copied or duplicated without the express permission of RSK and the party for whom it was prepared. Where field investigations have been carried out, these have been restricted to a level of detail required to achieve the stated objectives of the work. This work has been undertaken in accordance with the quality management system of RSK Environment Ltd. Ventient Energy Limited Farr Wind Farm Life Extension Section 36 Variation Application Supporting Information Environmental Report P662852 CONTENTS PREFACE ............................................................................................................................................... 2 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Structure of the Document ....................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Document Purpose ................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Background .............................................................................................................................. 5 1.4 Location of the Development .................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Physical Characteristics of the Development ........................................................................... 6 1.6 Benefits of Farr Wind Farm Life Extension .............................................................................. 9 1.7 Drivers for Renewable Energy ............................................................................................... 11 1.8 Pre-Application Consultation .................................................................................................. 12 1.9 Screening ............................................................................................................................... 12 1.10 Public Engagement ................................................................................................................ 13 1.11 Development Planning requirements ..................................................................................... 13 1.12 Method of Assessment ........................................................................................................... 14 2 ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTS ....................................................................................................... 17 2.1 Landscape and Visual Effects ................................................................................................ 17 2.2 Ecology and Ornithology Effects ............................................................................................ 33 2.3 Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Effects ............................................................................ 39 2.4 Noise Effects .......................................................................................................................... 39 2.5 Scoped out Issues .................................................................................................................. 41 3 SCHEDULE OF MITIGATION ........................................................................................................ 43 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 43 3.2 Summary of Environmental Commitments ............................................................................. 44 4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................. 46 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 – SUPPORTING INFORMATION .................................................................................. 47 APPENDIX 2 – CONSULTATION INFORMATION.............................................................................. 48 Ventient Energy Limited Farr Wind Farm Life Extension Section 36 Variation Application Supporting Information Environmental Report P662852 1 PREFACE Farr Windfarm Limited (‘the Applicant’), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ventient Energy Limited (Ventient) is submitting an application under Section 36C (s36C) of The Electricity Act 1989 (‘the Act’) as amended in order to extend the operational period of Farr Wind Farm (hereafter referred to as Farr) from 25 years to 35 years. The Applicant is the owner and operator of Farr. Farr is located on the Kyllachy Estate, 8 miles south of Inverness and comprises 40 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2.3MW providing an overall capacity of 92 MW. The wind farm is located south-east of Farr and west of Tomatin, Inverness-shire, on open moorland to the east of the Monadhliath Mountains. It is located off the A9 between the Findhorn and Nairn valleys. Farr has been operational since December 2005 and the current Section 36 planning consent expires in December 2030. A s36C variation application would allow the continuation of operations rather than decommissioning after the consented 25 years. No changes to existing turbines or infrastructure are proposed. Within their portfolio, Ventient has a number of wind farms that are significantly older than Farr. Over the last three years, Ventient has conducted Engineering Life Extension analysis on a number of wind farms, which provides information on the needs of each individual wind farm but also gives assurance that other wind farms in the portfolio can operate beyond the term of their original planning consent. Further details are provided in the Statement on the Inspection, Servicing, Maintenance and Repair Programme for Farr Wind Farm (Appendix 1). RSK Environment Limited has been commissioned by Ventient to compile the Section 36 variation application. Following advice from The Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit (ECU) and The Highland Council (THC) planning department, this document augments the information already available within the Environmental Statement (ES) originally prepared for Farr. It contains the necessary information required to allow the application to be considered by the ECU, THC and statutory consultees such as Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). Ventient Energy Limited Farr Wind Farm Life Extension Section 36 Variation Application Supporting Information Environmental Report P662852 2 Given that the proposed development has not been altered in any way from that described in the ES, it is not considered that the granting of the Section 36 variation would create any additional significant environmental effects, nor would it increase or intensify any existing environmental effect. Hard copies of the environmental report (including ES Volume 2 Written Statement, Volume 1, Non-Technical Summary and Volume 4, Technical Appendices produced as part of the original ES1) are available subject to a charge of £100 (plus P&P). A digital version of the environmental report on CDROM or via file sharing can be obtained for a fee of £10. Copies are available on written request from: Robert Beck RSK Environment Limited 65 Sussex Street Glasgow G41 1DX Mobile: +44 (0)7917 425 239 email: [email protected] 1 As a consequence of the wind farm owner changing and the length of time that has passed since the Farr ES was produced, a copy of Volume 3, was not available for review. Ventient Energy Limited Farr Wind Farm Life Extension Section 36 Variation Application Supporting Information Environmental Report P662852 3 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Structure of the Document Utilising a topic-based structure, this document assesses the predicted effects occurring as a result of extending the life of Farr. This document is structured as follows: Section 1 sets out the document purpose, project background, development planning requirements, physical characteristics, benefits and location of the development and describes the pre-application consultation undertaken and method of assessment used; Section 2 describes the characteristics of likely effects on landscape, ecology and ornithology, archaeology, hydrology,