Notice is hereby given that Creag Riabhach Wind Farm Limited, company registration number SC424471, with its Registered Office at 2 Castle Terrace, 4th Floor, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 2EL, has applied to the Scottish Ministers for consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to construct and operate, for a period of up to 40 years, a renewable energy development, known as Creag Riabhach Wind Farm Extension, on land in the ownership of Altnaharra Estate immediately adjacent to the east and partly within Creag Riabhach Wind Farm. The application site is located approximately 6.5 km south of the settlement of Altnaharra on the A836 and approximately 21.5 km north of the village of Lairg in central Sutherland (central grid reference NGR NC 52978 27588). The proposed development is an extension to Creag Riabhach Wind Farm, comprises a three-turbine extension (each turbine would have a ground to blade tip height of up to 149.9m), battery energy storage system (BESS) and associated infrastructure. The candidate extension turbines would have an indicative capacity of 12.6MW and the BESS would have an indicative capacity of 37.3MW. Therefore, the total installed capacity of the proposed development in conjunction with the existing Creag Riabhach Wind Farm would be greater than 50 MW. The proposed development is subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and an EIA Report has been produced to accompany the application for consent.

Creag Riabhach Wind Farm Limited has also applied for a direction under Section 57(2) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 that planning permission for the development be deemed to be granted.

A copy of the application, with a plan showing the land to which it relates, together with a copy of the EIA Report discussing the Company’s proposals in more detail and presenting an analysis of the environmental implications, is available for public inspection, free of charge on the application website https://www.erguk.energy/creag-riabhach/ or on the Scottish Government Energy Consents website at www.energyconsents.scot under application reference ECU00004487.

The EIA Report is also available for public inspection in person, free of charge at:

Hard copies of the full EIA Report are subject to a charge of £1500 and are available on request (telephone: +44(0)7831 772658 or email: ukdevelopment@erg.eu). A digital version of the EIA Report can also be obtained for £15 per copy on USB drive. Hard copies of the non-technical summary are available free of charge.

Any representations to the application may be submitted via:

• the Energy Consents Unit website at: www.energyconsents.scot/Register.aspx;

• by email to the Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit mailbox at: ‘representations@gov.scot’; or

• by post to: Scottish Government, Energy Consents Unit, 4th Floor, 5 Atlantic Quay, 150 Broomielaw, Glasgow, G2 BLU, identifying the proposal and specifying the grounds for representation. Please note that there may be a delay in the Energy Consents Unit receiving representations by post.

Written or emailed representations should be dated, clearly stating the name (in block capitals), full return email and postal address of those making representations. Only representations sent by email to ‘representations@gov.scot’ will receive acknowledgement.

All representations should be received no later than 1 August 2023, although Ministers may consider representations received after this date.

Any subsequent additional information which is submitted by the Company will be subject to further public notice in this manner, and representations to such information will be accepted as per this notice.

As a result of a statutory objection from the relevant planning authority, or where Scottish Ministers decide to exercise their discretion to do so, Scottish Ministers can also cause a Public Local Inquiry (PLI) to be held.

Following examination of the environmental information, Scottish Ministers will determine the application for consent in two ways:

• consent the proposal, with or without conditions attached; or

• reject the proposal.

General Data Protection Regulations

The Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit processes consent applications and consultation representations under the Electricity Act 1989. During the process, to support transparency in decision making, the Scottish Government publishes online at www.energyconsents.scot. A privacy notice is published on the help page at www.energyconsents.scot. This explains how the Energy Consents Unit processes your personal information. If you have any concerns about how your personal data is handled, please email: ‘Econsents_admin@gov.scot’.