Highland Council’s North Planning Applications Committee has recommended that the Council raises an objection to the Moray West offshore wind farm, located next to the Moray East and Beatrice offshore wind farms.
The committee states that the proposal would have a significantly detrimental impact on the open and panoramic sea views that are identified as special qualities of the Council’s Special Landscape Area citations for this coastline.
In particular, the extent to which turbines would dominate the horizon in ‘slot’ views and result in a loss of uninterrupted views of the Moray coast, the report delivered to the Highland Council reads.
The Moray West project, owned by EDP Renewables and China Three Gorges, proposes a 750MW offshore wind farm comprising 85 wind turbines.
The report states that the turbines would have a maximum height to tip of 285m and a rotor diameter of 250m.
Initial proposals for the development of Moray West were published in 2016.
According to Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd (MORL), development of Moray West was initially constrained as a result of other human activity in the area, including Ministry of Defence use and existing oil infrastructure. As conditions in this regard have changed, the possibility for the development of the project emerged.
Offshore WIND staff