Located 7.5km to the west of Rhynie, Clashindarroch Wind Farm Extension is a project of up to 21 wind turbines with an installed capacity of up to 6.6 megawatt (MW) each, a 50MW battery energy storage facility and associated infrastructure. When constructed, 13 of the turbines will have a blade tip height of up to 200 metres, whilst the remaining 8 will measure up to 180m to the tip of the blade. Extensive landscape studies have been undertaken to reduce visual impacts from a range of viewpoints.
The site measures approximately 882 hectares which primarily consists of heather upland, managed as grouse moor. It adjoins the existing Clashindarroch Wind Farm to the west.
Why extend?
From a planning perspective, extending existing wind farms can have considerable advantages. For example, seen from a wider perspective, a wind farm cluster may have a lower visual impact than that of a number of separate wind farms that are sited across the area. Throughout the turbine layout design process, the project team have taken the layouts of Clashindarroch Wind Farm and Clashindarroch Wind Farm II into consideration. As a result, when viewed together, the three projects would look like an integrated wind farm cluster.
Project Timeline
The first step in the project’s planning process is the scoping stage. The scoping report was submitted to the Scottish Government and a range of statutory consultees in August 2020. Responses to this scoping report have helped define the required environmental studies and shape the draft proposals. Survey results and design iterations are documented in the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIA Report), which can be viewed on the Downloads page of this website. The Section 36 application was submitted in January 2023 and validated under ECU reference ECU00004695. It was approved by Scottish Ministers, subject to the removal of one of the turbines due to potential impact on peat and subject to planning conditions, on 18 December 2025. Please see the decision notice here.