Renewable energy companies Infinergy and Boralex have secured approval from the Scottish Government to build the 21-turbine, 90MW wind farm at Limekiln, south of Reay in Caithness.
The wind farm will be located 2.8km South/Southwest of Dounreay Power Station and will include 21 turbines. In the coming months, the two companies will decide on the most suitable turbine for the location.
Infinergy managing director Esbjorn Wilmar said: “We are delighted that the Scottish Government has given consent to Limekiln Wind Farm. We always knew that the site was an excellent one, and would ultimately prove its credentials, which includes being sited outside a Wild Land Area, through the planning process.”
Construction of the 90MW wind farm is expected to begin in 2021 and it is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2022. The power generated from the wind farm will be sufficient to be supplied to at least 39,500 Scottish homes.
To optimise the financing of this project, Infinergy and Boralex are exploring options of signing corporate power purchase agreements (PPA).
Boralex president and CEO Patrick Lemaire said: “The Limekiln Wind Farm is our first project in Scotland, and we are delighted to be making our first step in diversifying our portfolio across Europe.
“We believe this project will contribute to reduce carbon emissions to help meet the Scottish Government’s ambitious electricity generation targets and also provide significant investment and economic benefits to the local area as well as helping address the very real climate emergency we all face.
“We look forward to taking this project forwards toward the next steps of financing, construction and operation.”
The wind farm is part of the JV agreement between Infinergy and Boralex
The two companies signed a 50-50 joint venture agreement in October 2017, aimed for developing a pipeline of onshore wind projects with an estimated capacity of 325MW. The present Limekiln wind project is part of this partnership.
The pipeline of projects under the partnership will range between 6MW and 80MW and will allow Boralex to acquire to resell them in the coming years.
