Glenmuckloch wind farm and pumped storage hydro scheme

Challenge

SLR was part of the EIA team involved in the consenting of proposals to transform the former Glenmuckloch opencast coal site in Dumfries and Galloway, with proposals to build eight wind turbines adjacent to the working mine and a pumped storage hydro scheme of up to 400MW.

Solution

Planning consent has been given by Dumfries and Galloway Council to build eight 3.2 MW turbines at the site, complementing two community-owned turbines already operating and could work alongside another proposal to build a pumped storage hydro scheme at the opencast site. In 2016 the Scottish Government gave consent for this pumped storage hydro scheme, which could contribute to the restoration of the former opencast site. Pumped storage hydro stores electricity in times of low demand and releases it on to the National Grid in peak demand periods, providing energy when required and also balancing local constraints on the electricity grid. 

Buccleuch has been working closely with the local community and Hargreaves Surface Mining to restore and transform the site, with a vision is to create an energy park that will support local jobs and deliver new investment, through the combination of pumped storage and on-site wind generation.

Impact

SLR undertook the landscape and visual aspects of the EIA for both the proposed wind farm and pumped storage hydro scheme. The site spans a steep slope, with the wind farm and upper reservoir situated on the side of a ridgeline and the lower reservoir formed from an excavated area of open cast mine workings. The visual effects of the proposed development were assessed as part of the EIA using zone of visibility maps (ZTVs), photomontages and 3D models of the proposals, with beneficial changes identified over the long-term due to the restoration of the open-cast coal mining landscape.