Highland Council determination
RES' planning application to The Highland Council for its 5 turbine redesigned Cairnmore hill Wind Farm proposal, was refused by the Council in January 2025 under delegated powers.
The proposal sited in an area identified by The Highland Council as having ‘potential for wind farm development’ and outwith any nature conservation, landscape or cultural designations. It would have been capable of generating clean, low cost renewable electricity for around 28,0001 homes and offsetting approximately 23,736 tonnes of carbon emissions compared to the use of fossil fuels. The proposal also included measures to enrich key habitats across the site and achieve a 16% biodiversity net gain. In addition, it was predicted to deliver around £1.4 million of inward investment to the local area and £8.75 million in business rates to the Council - in addition to a tailored community benefit package for the local area.
Euan Hogg, RES Development Project Manager, explained: “We carefully considered the Council’s feedback on our previous 8-turbine proposal and significantly reduced the scheme in response to this, so we’re naturally disappointed by the refusal – particularly given the importance of projects like Cairnmore Hill amidst the climate change emergency we are facing.
“This project could deliver significant inward investment to the area in addition to playing an important part in helping meet Scotland’s net zero carbon targets. Community support for the project has also been shown with over 200 support letters submitted into planning. We will now take time to review the Council’s decision and consider our options for the site.”
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1The 28,000 homes equivalent figure has been calculated by taking the predicted annual electricity generation of the site together with RES’ predicted capacity factor of 49.66% and dividing this by the annual average electricity figures from DESNZ showing that the annual GB average domestic household consumption is 3,239 kWh (January 2024). Final wind farm capacity will vary depending on the outcome of planning permission and the turbine type selected.