The onshore planning application for the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm (PFOWF), a 100MW development key to advancing the deployment of large-scale floating offshore wind, has now been submitted to The Highland Council. 

Located 7.5km off the coast of Dounreay in Caithness, the development will be capable of providing clean energy to approximately 70,000 homes (equivalent to 64% of those in the Highland Council area) and when complete will be the biggest of its kind in the world. 

Following extensive public consultation, very few changes were made to the application for Planning Permission in Principle, which covers the project’s onshore infrastructure elements and includes the onshore application boundary, an Environmental Impact Assessment and visualisations of indicative substation locations. When approved, the consent will enable the construction of an onshore substation and cables which will feed power from the floating wind turbines into the existing local grid network.

Richard Copeland, Project Director, said: 
“The submission of the onshore planning application highlights another key milestone for Pentland, which will provide a testbed for new floating wind technologies while bringing a number of benefits to the local area.”

“It was encouraging to see that the onshore plans were well received and very few changes were made to the application following local consultation. At every stage of this project, we’ve aimed to consult as comprehensively as possible to ensure the development remains considerate of the region and its residents. 

“The onshore application submission comes following the submission of the offshore consent application to Marine Scotland in August this year. Alongside these developments, we have continued to progress initiatives such as developing an Operations and Maintenance base at Scrabster harbour, consulting on our proposed community benefit fund to ensure the Caithness and Sutherland area benefits from the project, and supporting STEM careers through our regional bursary awards.”

The submission also comes ahead of a Business Breakfast event being held in partnership with Caithness Chamber of Commerce. Taking place in Thurso on 23 November 2022, the event will introduce the project and the opportunities available to local supply chain companies in the area. 

Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm

The Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm is planned to be operational in 2026. It will showcase new floating wind technology with a high potential for localisation in Scotland.

The exact floating technological solutions for the project are yet to be determined but a key consideration is building on existing technical expertise in Scotland to maximise the opportunity to local supply chains and communities. 

Once constructed the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm is estimated to provide enough green energy for almost 70,000 homes per year approximately 65% of those in the Highland Council area. 

The project is being developed by Highland Wind Limited which is majority owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) through one of its CI Funds with Hexicon A/B as a minority shareholder. 

Project development activities are being led by CIP’s development partner, Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP). The project development team is based in COP’s Global Floating Wind Competence Centre in Edinburgh. 

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners   l   KeyFacts Energy: Wind Energy