Location

Highland Council Area lying 2 km to the north-west of Bonar Bridge.

Status

Pre Application

Project benefits

Balblair wind farm is being developed by Vestas Development A/S and Force 9 Energy Ltd.

Aside from its wider socio-economic and environmental benefits wind power is compatible with other land uses and can provide a boost for rural economic diversification.

Vestas and Force 9 are committed to giving local businesses opportunity to share in the financial and employment benefits of the construction and operation of the Balblair wind farm. If constructed, Balblair will offer opportunities for local businesses such as accommodation providers, hire companies, fencing contractors, tradesmen, and machinery plant owners. If you are part of a local business, please contact us and we will register your interest and keep you informed about valuable opportunities for local businesses connected with the wind farm.


COMMUNITY BENEFIT
The project will be committed to paying Community Benefit at the prevailing Scottish Government recommended rate: currently at a value equivalent to £5,000 per Mega Watt of installed capacity, for every year of operation (anticipated to be 30 years) to help fund community projects. For illustrative purposes, if a 36 MW wind farm is constructed, this would be worth £180k per year (index linked) for local communities, for each year of operation – a total of up to £5.4 million over the project’s lifetime.

The funds would be available for a variety of local good causes and, subject to certain guidelines, agreement will be reached with the local community as to how best to distribute the available funds.