RES gears up for final Hill of Fare Wind Farm events

RES has announced that the final round of public exhibitions for its’ Aberdeenshire Hill of Fare Wind Farm proposal, approximately 6km north of Banchory, will take place w/c 19th June in the local area.

The events, which will provide people with an opportunity to review and discuss the updated design with the project team, will return again to Echt, Midmar and Torphins but this time include a Banchory event too, in response to consultation feedback.

Gavin Shirley, Development Project Manager at RES, added: “We received a fantastic turn-out at our previous October 2022 exhibitions, with more than 370 attendees, and the feedback received has helped to refine the updated wind farm design. The feedback has also helped to shape our final exhibition events for which we’ve made a commitment to an event in Banchory.

“We would encourage as many people as possible to visit one of these events if they’re interested in learning about the changes we’ve made to the scheme as well as the positive opportunities and benefits that the proposal could deliver to the area. These include proposals for RES’ unique Local Electricity Discount Scheme (LEDS) which could offer an annual discount to the electricity bills of those properties closest to the wind farm. This appears to be a popular proposal based on feedback from the last events.

“Furthermore, should the project be consented, RES will work with the community to develop a tailored community benefits package to help secure long-term economic, social and environmental benefits for the local area. In line with this, we are inviting further feedback from the community at the June events on the projects, ideas, and local priorities that they would like to see supported by the project.”

Since the previous exhibitions RES has reviewed the consultation feedback from the community and project stakeholders and has made some key changes to the design including the tip heights of turbines being lowered from 250m to a mix of 180m and 200m and turbine numbers reduced from 17 to 16.

The updated 105.6 MW scheme, if consented, would be capable of generating clean, low-cost renewable electricity for around 101,000 homes and creating a reduction in carbon emissions of approximately 107,689 tonnes each year – making an important contribution towards Scotland’s new target of installing 20GW of onshore wind across Scotland by 2030 and meeting net zero carbon emissions by 2045.

Hill of Fare Wind Farm is also predicted to deliver approximately £4.4 million of inward investment into the local area in the form of jobs, employment, and use of local services during construction and the first year of operation – as well as more than £1 million in business rates annually to Aberdeenshire Council.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Public exhibition events

Details of the exhibition events are as follows:

Tuesday 20 June

• Banchory Town Hall, 14 High Street, Banchory, AB31 5RP from 11am-2pm
• Midmar Hall, Midmar, Inverurie, AB51 7NE from 5pm-8pm

Wednesday 21 June

• Learney Hall, 9 Beltie Road, Torphins, Banchory, AB31 4JT from 11am-2pm
• Echt Hall, B977, Echt, Westhill, AB32 6UL from 5pm-8pm

Anyone wishing to provide feedback and ideas for local benefits to RES can do so in writing by filling out a ‘comments form’ at the exhibition events or online from the project website at www.hilloffare-windfarm.co.uk from Tuesday 20 June when copies of the exhibition information will be available on the project website for people to view. The closing date for comments is Thursday 6 July 2023.

Comments submitted to RES during these exhibitions or subsequent consultation period are not representations to the determining authority (The Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit). There will be an opportunity to submit representations to the determining authority should a planning application be submitted.

About RES

RES is the world’s largest independent renewable energy company and is active in onshore and offshore wind, solar, energy storage, green hydrogen, transmission and distribution. As an industry innovator for over 40 years, RES has delivered more than 23GW of renewable energy projects across the globe and supports an operational asset portfolio exceeding 12GW worldwide for a large client base. Understanding the unique needs of corporate clients, RES has secured over 1.5GW of corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) enabling access to energy at the lowest cost. RES employs over 2,500 passionate people and is active in 14 countries. Visit www.res-group.com

In Scotland, RES has developed/or constructed 21 wind farms with a total generation capacity of 597MW. The Scottish Government has set a legally binding target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045 and onshore wind projects like Hill of Fare will play an important role in helping to achieve these targets.

CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Sam Mayes

RES Press Office

+44 7747 017 255

[email protected]