The planning phase of the 2GW MachairWind offshore wind farm has hit a new milestone as ScottishPower Renewables has submitted an environmental scoping report to the Scottish government.
This new submission requests a formal Scoping Opinion from the Scottish government’s offshore planning authority, the Marine Directorate; this marks a key stage in the preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed wind farm.
The development area, which is located north of the isle of Islay and west of Colonsay, has been significantly reduced in size since ScottishPower Renewables first proposed the wind farm, reducing in size from 754km2 to 510 km2. This area will play host to as many as 147 wind turbines and foundations, as well as related cabling infrastructure.
The scoping report presents existing environmental information for the project area, as well as stakeholder feedback from Argyll & Bute Council, NatureScot, Historic Environment Scotland, RSPB Scotland, and organisations representing commercial fisheries. Additionally, the report lays out technical topics that will be formally assessed as part of the EIA, including landscape and visual impact, offshore ornithology, marine mammals, commercial fisheries and shipping and navigation.
The Marine Directorate is expected to provide its formal Scoping Opinion in 2025, following a consultation process.
Kiera Wilson, ScottishPower Renewables’ MachairWind development lead, said: “The submission of our scoping report is an important milestone and a key step in the consenting journey for MachairWind. We’re committed to ensuring our project is shaped by local people, communities and stakeholders and minimises any potential impacts while maximising benefits and opportunities across the Argyll and Bute region and the west of Scotland.”
Q3 2024 wind output highest in a decade
The news comes as a new report from Montel Analytics, which has revealed that wind power generation for the third quarter of this year reached a ten-year high.
Montel’s data shows that levels of wind power output for Q3 2024 were the highest for any Q3 since 2014, with 16.7TWh of wind energy produced. Although this was 3% lower than the generation seen in Q2 of this year, Q3 2024 wind production was up 0.5TWh from Q3 2023.
Montel also notes that renewable energy accounted for 47.3% of the British generation mix in Q3 2024, with most of this coming from wind. Biomass output rose by 10% to 7.1TWh, hydropower rose by 13% to hit 1.1TWh, while solar generation saw its highest output for any Q3 since 2022, with 4.7TWh of generation. Britain was a net importer of energy during the quarter, with the bulk of imports coming from France and Norway; the failure of an interconnector between the latter nation caused a 1.4GW energy shortfall earlier this month.
Phil Hewitt, director at Montel Analytics said: “Wind generation continued its upward trend as Britain looks to produce more of its electricity from cleaner sources. Curtailment of wind generation became necessary particularly during windy spells in early July, mid-August and early September, with record bid volumes being used to manage excess available wind output. Effectively, wind farm operators post bid prices at which they would be willing to reduce output if required and the system operator accepts bids as required to manage transmission constraints and/or excess levels of wind generation during periods of low demand on the system.”