News / New wind farm guidance
SCOTTISH Natural Heritage (SNH) has published a new set of guidance to help small scale wind farm developments.
The government’s environment agency said the document covers siting, design and assessment issues such as protected areas for birds, and cumulative impact of onshore wind farms.
Peter Hutchinson, head of advice on planning and renewables at SNH, said: “We support renewable energy as a means of addressing the challenge of climate change.
“The aim of our advice is to make sure the right developments happen in the right places.
“We recognise that it would be impractical for us to get involved in all applications. Given the demand on our resources from larger scale renewable energy development, we will be more selective and targeted in our engagement with small scale wind energy proposals.
“This means we will provide guidance on good practice and target our detailed advice on applications that require environmental impact assessment or a habitats regulations appraisal.”
The new wind farm guidance is available on the SNH website as follows:
Assessing the impact of small-scale wind energy proposals on the natural heritage
www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A669283.pdf
Guidance on Assessing Connectivity with Special Protection Areas (SPAs)
www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A675474.pdf
Assessing the cumulative effects of onshore wind energy developments
www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A675503.pdf
Siting and designing of small scale wind turbines of between 15 and 50metres in height www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A675507.pdf
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