Thistle Wind Partners (TWP) has submitted its Onshore Scoping Report for the onshore infrastructure associated with its 1GW Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm project off Scotland.
TWP submitted the documentation to Aberdeenshire Council to request a Scoping Opinion under The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.
The report provides information on the proposed onshore infrastructure and further outlines the approach to the Environmental Impact Assessment, including baseline data sources.
Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm will be located 44 km out at sea to the east of Stonehaven and will connect to the grid in Aberdeenshire.
In June TWP kicked off the consenting process for the combined 2GW Ayre and Bowdun offshore wind farms off the coast of Scotland.
The TWP team has been working, and has been in discussions with several landowners, to identify landfall, cable corridor and substations options.
Onshore wintering bird and intertidal surveys were completed earlier in the year and ecology surveys, which will form a key part of the onshore environmental baseline assessment within the EIA, are ongoing.
Submission of this Onshore Scoping Report follows TWP’s submissions of both the Onshore and Offshore Scoping Reports for its Ayre Offshore Wind Farm in the first half of the year.
To keep stakeholders informed, the TWP team will be holding community consultation events in Aberdeenshire between 28 and 30 October 2024.
Additional pre-application consultation events, in advance of the submission of a planning application, are planned for 2025.
TWP will seek feedback from the community with regards to the Bowdun project.
Bowdun’s Project Director, Ian Taylor, said: “The submission of the onshore scoping report for the Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm is a very significant milestone for the project and allows us to continue engagement with the local community on the emerging cable corridors, substation and landfall.
“We are looking forward to meeting with the communities on Bowdun in October at our planned events in Aberdeenshire.”