Project Description
An Càrr Dubh Wind Farm, Argyll and Bute
Hydrology and Peat Services for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Client: Statkraft (through LUC)
Date: 2020-2023
The Section 36 Application for An Càrr Dubh Wind Farm was submitted to the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) in April 2023. The proposal submitted consists of 13 turbines, with the closest turbine to Inveraray, Argyll and Bute located approximately 6km to the north-west and the closest turbine to Dalavich approximately 4.5km to the east.
Kaya Consulting were involved in the project early on, providing inputs to the Scoping submission in 2021 right through to the submission of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report in 2023 providing hydrology, peat, GWDTE and PWS surveys and assessment.
The Kaya team carried out Phase 1 and Phase 2 peat, hydrology and GWDTE surveys in this remote area, with many days spent out on the bog and upland moor (Images 1 and 2). The team worked closely with ecologists, hydrologists and peatland specialists to minimise impacts to the peatlands and the hydrological environment whilst working to achieve a suitable windfarm layout, via technical inputs to constraints and iterations of design layouts and consultation with statutory consultees.
Kaya Consulting were lead authors of the Geology, Hydrology, Hydrogeology and Peat Chapter of the EIA report and the following accompanying appendices:
- Watercourse Crossing Assessment
- Peat Survey Report
- Groundwater Dependent Terrestrial Ecosystems Assessment
The peat data (probe depths and cores) collected by the Kaya team was used to inform the Peat Management Plan (PMP) and Peat Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessment (PLHRA) which were prepared by Dr Andy Mills of East Point Geo, now OWC (Geoscience – OWC).
The overall EIA Report was prepared and managed by LUC (https://www.landuse.co.uk/).
For more details of the Project, see Projects | An Càrr Dubh Wind Farm – Statkraft UK
