A wind farm south-west of John O’Groats has been approved by the Scottish Government despite objections from Highland Council and others.

ScottishPower Renewables has won approval to erect 10 wind turbines capable of generating around 50MW of electricity at Hollandmey Renewable Energy, 8km south-west of John O’Groats and 16km east of Thurso.

The site will also house around 15MW of solar panels, and 15MW of battery energy storage.

Highland Council has objected over the 'significantly detrimental visual impact, both individually and cumulatively' with existing onshore wind farms in the area.

NatureScot, Historic Environment Scotland (HES), and RSPB Scotland had also initially objected, but withdrew these after being provided with further information, subject to conditions and mitigation measures being attached to the development before approval was granted.

Granting approval the government reporter acknowledged the flat and open landscape meant the turbines would be visible 'over very long distances' but believed that 'visual effects over distances greater than 10.2km would not be significant because of the scale of the landscape.'

They added that 'the effect of the turbines would be further diminished. Because the proposed development would be seen as part of a larger turbine grouping with the existing and consented wind farms at Lochend, Stroupster and Slickly'.

“Ultimately, the adverse landscape and visual effects must be balances against the benefits of the propose development that I have outlined above, taking into account the significant and meaningful contribution that Hollandmey Renewable Energy Development 51 would make to the national target of delivering 20GW of onshore wind energy generation by 2030."

They continued: “On balance I consider that the strong updated national policy support for onshore wind energy, and the significant contribution that the proposal would make toward tackling the climate crisis and achieving Scotland’s ambitious environmental goals, adds significant weight in favour of the proposed development.

“I consequently find that the combined benefits of the proposed development would outweigh the significant landscape and visual effects and the minor residual effects to the Castle of Mey and its associated designed landscape that have been identified.”