Planning application submitted for the E.ON Strathy Wood Wind Farm

By VictoriaBlake

E.ON, one of the UK's leading power and gas companies, has today [Friday] submitted a planning application for the Strathy Wood wind farm development, to the Scottish Government's Energy Consents Unit.

The wind farm, located near Strathy, Sutherland, could generate up to 78 megawatts of electricity - enough to power around 52,535 homes⁽¹⁾ with clean, renewable energy. During the consultation process for the site, the energy company has met with local community councils from the surrounding areas, as well as local residents, to discuss its plans and understand their thoughts on the proposals.

Following local feedback and a number of environmental studies that have been carried out, the wind farm has been designed to help ensure that it will have minimal impact on the local landscape and wildlife, while generating as much renewable energy as possible. Notably, this process saw the number of turbines in the plans reduce from 28 to 26.

To help ensure the wind farm has a positive effect on the local area, if consent is given, E.ON will provide a Community Benefit Fund, giving up to £390,000 a year to local community groups and projects. This amounts to £5,000 per megawatt of installed capacity, and how this money is spent will be up to residents.

Robert Mackay, Project Developer at E.ON, said: "We're grateful for the interest the local community has shown in this project. Having considered their feedback and taken on board their views, we've made some changes to improve our proposal that will reduce the impact on the local community. In particular we have worked hard to minimise effects on important ornithological and ecological sites near the project."

A copy of the application will be available online, at Strathy Village Hall and Bettyhill Service Point and at the Highland Council offices in Inverness and Golspie. For further information, please call us on 0800 096 1199 or email strathywood@eon-uk.com.

Ends

Notes to editors:

1 This is based on an estimated load factor of 33.6% using wind speeds at the Strathy Wood Wind Farm site. According to DECC, the average domestic household uses 4.37MWh of electricity a year.

• E.ON is one of the UK's leading power and gas companies - generating electricity, retailing power and gas, developing gas storage and undertaking gas and oil exploration and production. It is part of the E.ON group, one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies. E.ON employs around 12,000 people in the UK and more than 72,000 worldwide;


• In the UK, E.ON supplies power and gas to around five million domestic, small and medium-sized enterprise and industrial customers. E.ON also offers innovative energy services and technologies tailored to meet its customers' needs, and is helping customers become energy efficient by encouraging them to insulate their homes, moderate their energy usage and even generate their own power;


• E.ON has been voted Britain's best energy supplier for the second year running in the uSwitch.com Customer Satisfaction Awards. The independent report and awards are published annually and are based on a YouGov poll of over 5,000 energy customers;


• E.ON discusses changes with its customers through its 28,000-strong YourSay panel and its 1,000-strong MySay employee panel, and also through conversations with consumer advocacy groups. Improvements made to date include new tools to help customers use no more energy than they need, simpler products, transparent profits, fair prices, easier contact, and the confidence to complain;


• E.ON's generation portfolio includes world-class gas-, coal- and biomass-fired power stations. E.ON is a market leader in combined heat and power (CHP), and is one of the UK's leading green generators;


• One of the many ways E.ON leads the energy industry is through its commitment to market liquidity and transparency as evidenced by its actions on the day-ahead UK power markets including the N2EX auction. E.ON was the first company.

For more information contact:

Victoria Blake 02476 181304 or victoria.blake@eonenergy.com