THE developers behind the Black Craig wind farm proposals have submitted a new planning application to Argyll and Bute Council this week.
The new application, by Argyll Windfarms Limited, follows the withdrawal five months ago of the original plan - and includes several alterations to the earlier proposal.
The new application sees the proposed number of turbines reduced from 19 to 1
6, and the turbine height from ground level to the tip of the blade reduced by 1.5 metres per turbine.
Five turbines originally proposed for the higher elevations of the site have been removed, and replaced by two turbines proposed for the lower elevations.
The new application states that the company has recognised the worries about visual impacts on scenery expressed by many people on Bute, including letter writers to The Buteman, and states: "During operation, visual impacts of significance are predicted for ten viewpoints including views from Rothesay and Port Bannatyne and the A886 route."
The proposed site lies within the Glenstriven Estate with the nearest turbine some five miles from Ardbeg Point, the nearest location on Bute.
Each of the 16 redesigned turbines will have a power output of two
megawatts (MW), putting the windfarm, with a predicted output of approximately 40MW, below the 50MW threshold for planning decisions - meaning that planning permission is required from Argyll and Bute Council under the Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) 1997.
The application states that connection to the national grid will involve the installation of underground cabling within the site and 5.3 kilometres of underground cable from a substation at Black Craig to the existing substation at Sandbank.
In a letter accompanying the application, Argyll Windfarms Limited told
The Buteman that the proposed development would be widely advertised and everybody would have the opportunity to comment on the proposal and to inspect the environmental statement which will be available in various public places in Bute and Cowal.
