Forfar residents have been given their first look at a solar farm planned for farmland near the town’s Station Park which could power 7,500 homes.
And developers hope the 50,000 panels on the 54-hectare site will be generating electricity within a couple of years of a green light from Angus councillors – if they decide to back the scheme.
Relay Suttieside staged a public consultation session on Thursday to reveal the proposal for land north of the town.
The site sits beyond Suttieside industrial estate, north east of Forfar Athletic’s ground and at the boundary of Forfar golf driving range.
The drop-in at St Margaret’s Hall in Lunanhead was the first of two face-to-face consultation sessions.
A second will take place on October 13.
But there are early concerns about the landscape impact of the project and other issues.
And one local campaigner who led an unsuccessful fight against another local energy development fears resistance will be futile.
Jude Foster spearheaded a campaign to halt a 50MW battery storage scheme on farmland near Lunanhead.
But it was approved by Angus councillors last December.
“I don’t think it will matter what anyone says, the Scottish Government want these sort of developments to go ahead so this will probably happen,” she said.
The Suttieside solar project
Representatives of developers Epsilon Generation and Richard Murray of Murray Planning Associates spoke to locals about the project on Thursday.
“It has been a long time in the making. It is very much landscape and ecology driven,” said Mr Murray.
“The total site area is 54 hectares, but the panels will take up only 15 hectares.”
Other parts of the site will be given over to tree, hedgerow and meadow planting.
The project also includes a battery storage site in the north west corner.
It would mean surplus power from the solar panels could be stored at Suttieside and then fed into the grid when required.
Total generating capacity of the site would be 49.9MW, with the battery plant accounting for less than 20MW.
The developers say there is also an ambition to cable a direct supply to Suttieside businesses.
“We have a large industrial estate nearby with some businesses which use a lot of power,” said Louis Preston of Epsilon.
“We are looking at entering into agreements for a direct feed that typically works out at about 20-25% less then what they are paying to their supplier.
“This design has changed significantly from when we first started.
“We want people in the area to come out and learn about what we are proposing, and put their questions to us.
“Were a successful planning application secured, we would be looking at this being operational in two to three years.”
And they have promised a £30,000 per annum community fund from the solar farm.
Early local doubts
Jude Foster was among a host of local objectors to the Whitehills battery storage bid.
Locals said they were concerned about the potential fire risk from the development.
But Angus councillors gave it the go-ahead at the end of last year.
It is one of two planned for land near an electricity substation which offers easy connection to the national grid.
And farm shop owner Jude says a Scottish Ministers’ decision to overturn the authority’s refusal of another major solar farm has dented confidence opposition voices will be listened to.
On Wednesday, developers behind Angus’ joint-largest solar farm project at Berryhill Farm, near Piperdam learned their planning appeal had been successful.
“After seeing the outcome of Berryhill this week I think we’d be in a losing battle,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter what we say, the Scottish Government want these renewable projects to go ahead.”
Conversation