A major consultation exercise, likely to last most of this year, into the potential environmental, socio-economic and visual impacts of the £24 million Beatrice Wind Farm Demonstrator Project will get underway in Dingwall on Friday (May 6).
Special interest and community groups and NGOs both locally and from elsewhere in Scotland will be attending a day-long meeting organised by the Moray Firth Partnership on behalf of project partners Talisman Energy (UK) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Talisman Energy Inc., and Perth-based Scottish and Southern Energy plc.
If approved, the demonstrator project will run for a period of five years, consists of two wind turbines linked by subsea cable to the nearby Beatrice platform. The purpose of the project is to provide a better understanding of the environmental impact of deepwater wind farms, prove the concept and explore the cost effectiveness of deepwater sites and share knowledge and experience across Europe.
The project has financial backing from the Scottish Executive, the Department of Trade and Industry and the European Commission. It has been incorporated into the pan-European DOWNVInD (Distant Offshore Wind farms with No Visual Impact iN Deepwater) initiative. DOWNVInD has been established as a catalyst for commercializing deepwater wind farm technology and comprises 15 different universities, research organisations and companies from 6 European countries.
“We have recently produced a scoping report describing the possible impacts of the project,” commented Jan Rusin, Talisman’s Environment Manager. “At our meeting we will be specifically discussing this report, and delegates will have an opportunity to comment on it and suggest additional issues that may need to be considered as well as highlighting any other concerns they may have.”
“This represents the first step in an extensive consultation programme we will be running during the course of this year. The findings from these consultations will form an important part of the formal environmental assessment we have to complete under statutory regulations in order to get consent for the demonstrator, and we are committed to working in partnership with interest groups to achieve this.”
Moray Firth Partnership’s chairman Mike Comerford, who will chair next Friday’s meeting, commented: “The Moray Firth Partnership is pleased to be able to facilitate this event, which we believe will help broaden and strengthen the consultation process.”
“We are involved in this consultation meeting because we believe that all those interested and who might be affected by the Beatrice Wind Farm Demonstrator Project should have the opportunity, at an early stage, to discuss the issues and any concerns and benefits of the project in a neutral forum and to be party of the consultation process as the project develops.”
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