Further to Statkraft’s planning application submission for the Giant’s Burn Windfarm, SAVE COWAL’S HILLS invites all to a Public Meeting in Dunoon Burgh Hall at 7.30pm on Thursday August 7th. PLEASE JOIN US to hear our campaign updates, to lend your support and to access our support with your objections.
People sometimes wonder why a landowner would want to host a wind farm. The answer, as this court case shows, is they are being offered rents that would tempt a saint,’ is how Dr John Constable, director of the REF charity, puts it.
‘As a result, the green subsidies that make these high returns possible are now at an unsustainable level.’
Details of how the public’s cash is being splurged are laid bare in an ‘opinion’ on the litigation that was published by Lord Sandison, one of Scotland’s most senior judges, on July 10.
It reveals that Moran’s company Glenfiddich Wind Limited, which runs his estate’s wind farming operations, is suing EDF’s operating firm Dorenell Windfarm Limited for ‘sums allegedly underpaid’ under the terms of its lease.
The claim covers a three-year period from 2022 to 2024. During that time, the contract between the two stipulated that Moran’s firm would be paid either a ‘gross income rent’ based on a proportion of revenues generated by the turbines, or a ‘minimum annual rent’ of £6million, depending on which was higher.
In 2022, he received £8,496,981. The following year, the figure was £9,480,725, and in 2024 it reached £10,406,641.
(summary from Scotland Against Spin – Leading the fight against Scottish wind energy policy)
The court judgement can be read here:
2025csoh62-glenfiddich-wind-limited-against-dorenell-windfarm-limited.pdf
Thank you to Friends of Clyde Muirshiel for including our article in their June newsletter. It is also so interesting to read of the great work being done on Duchal Moor re peatland restoration (article by Ronnie Cowan).
You can follow Friends of Muirshiel on their website: Home
as well as by joining their private Facebook group if you wish https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofmuirshiel/
The aims of Friends of Clyde Muirshiel are primarily to promote public understanding of the Regional Park and its environs, protect and safeguard the ecology and the landscape, restore the habitats and the biodiversity of the Regional Park and promote inclusive access throughout the park.
Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park and Loch Lomond & the Trossachs and National Park are critical to the rich tapestry of our shared landscapes.
Stop these giant turbines
Surely something must be done urgently to stop the mad dash to construct massive wind power stations on hills and high ground all over Scotland?
These structures are now routinely proposed to be 200m (656ft) high, and unlike previous industrial structures such as coal mines, where the pithead was often just 25m high and in a town in a valley, the new epidemic of wind turbines is already ruining, or threatening to ruin, vast tracts of Scotland’s internationally renowned landscapes, from Lewis to East Sutherland, from Caithness to the Borders, from Moray to Ayrshire, from Perthshire to Argyll, and beyond.
Until recently wind turbines 200m high were only considered for offshore developments, since they are about twice the size of wind turbines we already see near Stirling, Greenock or Ardrossan. Building such new gigantic structures represents a momentous industrialisation of our landscapes. Even peat uplands are being considered as possible construction sites, despite the inevitable CO2 thereby released, and applications for sites where permission had previously been refused are frequently being reconsidered. In practice the new planning policy NPF4 appears to be out of control.
Other options, such as hydro, micro-hydro, tidal and solar are available in the “basket of renewables”. Although sometimes more expensive to build, these in the medium and long term would surely make more sense. Avoiding onshore wind industrialisation should be a Scottish Government priority.
I wonder how many of your readers know about plans to build giant turbines above Balloch (at Auchenreoch Moor), and above Dunoon, on the Bishop’s Seat hilltops? The latter would affect Dunoon’s status as the “Gateway to the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park”. And at present, the danger is very real that, once one scheme is approved for wind industrialisation on a specific site, others will follow, changing the whole essence of the Scotland we know – and cherish.
Judging by the recent letter sent to the First Minister by no fewer than 42 community campaign groups across Scotland calling for a moratorium on Scottish wind farms, and the recent unprecedented meeting of over 30 community councils in Beauly to discuss the issue, serious concern is widespread.
It is surely high time the Scottish Government took note and urgently amended its renewables policies accordingly.
Philip Norris, for Save Cowal’s Hills, Dunoon.
Wednesday 2nd July 2025
𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝟯𝟭𝟱 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝟰𝟰.
Some years ago, the UK government decided to throw £500m at improving mobile communications in remote areas, principally the Highlands. This was fully supported by the Scottish Government which had modified some planning rules to enable it.
The applications came in thick and fast for masts in the remotest spots – masts, batteries, generators and wind turbines destroying those landscapes, and with a completely haphazard approach to improving mobile coverage.
Well done to John Muir Trust and Mountaineering Scotland amongst many others including the many community councils involved in forming a coalition to successfully address this ridiculous situation.
Full article in link below