The Durran Mains wind farm proposal has been in development since 2003 and in that time has undergone significant change. For example one of the early turbine concept layouts proposed a site of approximately 50MW installed capacity based on multi megawatt turbines of around 2MW size (i.e. 100m+ to tip height) whilst the current proposal is a much smaller overall project of around 20MW with smaller turbines of 1.3 – 1.5MW capacity each (and up to 91metres in height).

The revisions to the concept layouts have resulted from both feedback of the environmental assessments conducted, and from comments received locally at the original public meeting held in Bower, meetings with representatives of Community Councils and in subsequent correspondence.

In the coming months, as the environmental impact assessment (EIA) is completed and the design finalised, a planning application for the construction of the wind farm at Durran Mains will be submitted to the Highland Council incorporating these changes and highlighting the design iterations made.

The present status of the project and descriptions of some of the environmental assessment work undertaken to date have been outlined below. Preliminary photomontages illustrating what the current wind farm layout might look like from a number of viewpoints are also provided. At the time of the submission final photomontages and more details of the assessments will be posted on this page. A non technical summary of the Environmental Statement (ES) which accompanies the planning application will also be made available for download from the web site. Full copies of the ES will be made available to view locally and these locations will be advised in both the press and on this site.

Site Location
The Durran Mains proposal lies situated approximately 7km south-east of Thurso within the local authority of Caithness. The location of the site, (Landranger Maps 11 or 12) is nominally centred on Grid Reference Easting 319500 and Northing 962000 shown as follows.

Site Location

Project Description
The proposal has undergone significant changes since the initial concepts were outlined. These changes have included a reduction in the scale of the development (from 32 to 13 turbines) and in the size of the individual turbines (from 100m to 91m).

Turbine Comparison Showing Reduced Scale

Each turbine requires an access track for erection and service and a craneage area suitable for deploying the large crane necessary during assembly.

The proposal will also include a small control building to house essential electrical equipment enabling the wind farm to be connected to the electrical grid, and a wind monitoring mast. The monitoring mast enables the performance of the wind turbines to be monitored during operation.

The closest suitable grid connection is likely to be by underground cable to the Thurso substation some 6km to the northwest.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

For any wind farm an EIA is necessary to assess any potential and likely impacts of the development on the site and on the surrounding area. This includes an assessment of the:

Landscape and Visual Impacts
This considers the impacts on the visual amenity, landscape character and fabric caused by changes in the appearance of the landscape both close to the site and as far away as 30km. In undertaking this assessment the potential cumulative effects of the Durran Mains proposal with other developments are also considered.

As part of the assessment a map is produced which illustrates how many turbines can be seen from any given location with in a given radius (a Zone of Visual Influence (ZVI) map). This is done as if it was a ‘Lunar landscape’ with no forestry, other vegetation or buildings to obscure the view so it is very much a worst case scenario.

From this map viewpoints are identified which represent a range of different types of views from different distances. This includes views from settlements, from key traffic routes, and from important landscape features or designated viewpoints. For Durran Mains these viewpoints include views of the proposal from the villages of Halkirk, Castletown, Dunnet and Thurso.

View West from Minor Road at Durran Mains

View East from Edge of Halkirk Village

View South from Castletown School

View South from Dunnet

View Southeast from Thurso High School