Onshore Scoping Report Submitted for 1 GW Scottish Offshore Wind Farm

September 11, 2024, by Adnan Memija

Thistle Wind Partners (TWP) has submitted an onshore scoping report to Aberdeenshire Council for the onshore infrastructure associated with its 1 GW Bowdun offshore wind farm in Scotland.

The report provides information on the proposed onshore infrastructure and further outlines the approach to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), including baseline data sources.

Located 44 kilometres to the east of Stonehaven, the Bowdun offshore wind farm will connect to the grid in Aberdeenshire.

The assigned grid connection point for Bowdun is at the proposed transmission operator substation in the vicinity of Fetteresso Forest, and the preferred landfall would be near to Benholm.

The developer has been working through optioneering and consideration of environmental constraints, in discussion with several landowners, throughout the year to identify landfall, cable corridor, and substation options.

Onshore wintering bird and intertidal surveys were completed earlier in the year and ecology surveys, which will form a key part of the onshore environmental baseline assessment within the EIA, are currently ongoing.

To keep stakeholders informed, the TWP team will be holding community consultation events in Aberdeenshire between 28th and 30th October 2024. Additional pre-application consultation events, in advance of the submission of a planning application, are planned for 2025.

Submission of this onshore scoping report follows TWP’s submissions of both the onshore and offshore scoping reports for its Ayre offshore wind farm in the first half of the year.

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TWP started developing its projects in January 2022 after winning seabed lease options from Crown Estate Scotland for the 1 GW Ayre and the 1 GW Bowdun wind farms.

The developer plans to commence construction of both wind farms in 2029, with the Ayre floating offshore wind farm being built in two separate phases. Both Ayre and the fixed-bottom Bowdun project are expected to be fully commissioned in 2033.