Plans for a 25-turbine windfarm have been unveiled as part of a major ‘rewilding’ project at Glen Lednock near Comrie.
Renewables developer Low Carbon wants to site the 700ft-tall structures next to Loch Lednock on the Invergeldie estate.
It is working with Oxygen Conservation, which acquired the 12,000-acre estate earlier this year.
The Exeter-based company says it wants to re-wild Invergeldie by restoring peatland, planting native woodland, focusing on regenerative farmland and promoting green tourism.
The Glen Lednock scheme is the first detailed plan to emerge from the site.
Dozens of people attended a windfarm consultation event held by Low Carbon in Comrie on Tuesday. It followed a similar session in St Fillans on Monday.
Locals were able to view maps and designs and learn more about the proposal.
Low Carbon spokesman Steven Stewart said recent flooding in Perthshire had underlined the need to act on the climate emergency.
But locals have raised concerns about the scale of the project and the impact on the landscape and native species.
There are also questions over access to the site and the cumulative effect of wind turbines on the area.
Another developer SSE has been consulting on its plans for around14 turbines at Glentarken on the neighbouring Drummond estate.
Mr Stewart insisted the windfarm proposal on the table in Comrie this week was at a very early stage
“At the moment the plan is for up to 25 turbines,” he said.
“But this just the beginning of a seven to eight year process.
“The whole approach is about trying to involve the community right from the start.”
Comrie windfarm session follows rewilding talks
Oxygen Conservation held another session on the wider rewilding plans at invergeldie earlier this year.
It bought Invergeldie and another 11,390 acres of Scottish land at Langholm Moor with the backing of a £20 million loan in the spring.
It’s the first time the Invergeldie estate has changed hands since 1961.
The company has been conducting land surveys in recent months, ahead of drawing up more precise proposals next year.
However, Oxygen Conservation founder and managing director Rich Stockdale posted an update on the company’s website this summer titled Patient Urgency.
In it, he wrote of the need for urgency to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss.
We’ve felt this pressure to act faster more so in Scotland likely due to the scale of our acquisitions,” he said.
“Invergeldie is no different, however, we are learning so much and so quickly that our ambitions for the Estate are changing rapidly too.”
Regarding the windfarm proposals, he writes: ” It’s early days but the topography, geology, and environmental considerations look positive.
“This would deliver a huge range of sustainable benefits from green energy to additional employment, improved access infrastructure, and opportunities to utilise construction work to support peatland restoration and habitat creation.”
Oxygen is reducing the number of sheep on the hill, from around 2,000.
It is also working with stalkers from the Perthshire Deer Management Group “to rapidly reduce growing deer numbers”.
Oxygen Conservation also owns 523 acres of land on the northern side of the Firth of Tay, known as Dog Bank.
It says it intends to open an outdoor laboratory to research the habitats in order to better understand the role they play in removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the seabed.
Conversation