Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Councillors defer Millenium Windfarm decision

The site of the Millenium wind farm
The site of the Millenium wind farm

Councillors have deferred a decision on a controversial windfarm extension after deciding they needed to visit the site.

Developer Falck Renewables Wind Ltd want to extend their Millennium site on the Aberchalder and Achlain estates at Glenmoriston, by adding another 10 turbines to the existing 26.

The company has asked the Scottish Government for consent to build the 430ft masts, but as a statutory consultee Highland Council must still consider the plans.

A new application for a windfarm of this size would normally be determined by the local authority, but this application is being handled by the government because it is an extension to an existing larger development.

Yesterday, members of the council’s south planning committee agreed it could not form a view on the plans until they had seen where the turbines would go.

Councillor Donnie Kerr, Inverness Central led calls for a site visit.

He said: “It’s getting to the point that we can’t tell what a windfarm will look like in the landscape without a site visit.

“We get these pictures but they are designed really to be held up when you are out at the site so you can compare.

“I think because this is an extension we really need to go and have a look.”

Highland Council’s head of planning and building standards, Ken McCorquodale, recommended that members did not object to the proposals.

Falck says the existing windfarm generates 65MW of power – enough to supply about 36,000 homes.

The extension would add another 35MW, providing power for about another 19,000 homes.

Earlier this week, the Press and Journal revealed the renewables company has been paid £7.5million to switch off its turbines and stop producing electricity since 2009.

This year alone Falck Renewables Wind Ltd received £2.8million not to generate power on 77 separate occasions.

The “constraint payments” – is money paid to energy companies to stop feeding power to the National Grid in order to balance supply.