Corkey Windfarm Repowering

ScottishPower Renewables have operated Corkey Windfarm for over 20 years, with the site’s 10 turbines generating up to 5 megawatts of renewable power. The site, in its current form, has consent to operate in perpetuity.

Whilst the turbines currently perform well, newer more modern technology is available which is more reliable and capable of producing more energy. We are looking to repower the windfarm, resulting in the reuse of the site with fewer, larger, more efficient, modern turbines of greater capacity. In doing so, the benefits are maximised without the need to develop a new greenfield site.

Location

Located within the Causeway Coast & Glens Council area in County Antrim, the site lies approximately 18 km north of Ballymena.

Current Stage

The planning application was consented by Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council on 2nd March 2022.

Consent has been granted for 5x turbines with a tip height of 137m and, depending on the final size of turbine selected, the generating capacity of the repowered Corkey Windfarm could be in the region of 20-25MW.

We are now in the process of reviewing pre-commencement conditions and working on having these discharged by the council prior to beginning construction.

Project History

A planning application was submitted in June 2019 to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council for 5 turbines.

Printed copies of the Environmental Statement (ES) are available to view by the public during normal opening hours at the following locations:

Loughgiel Millennium Centre, 36 Lough Road, Loughgiel, Ballymena, BT44 9JN
Causeway Coast and Glen Borough Council, Coleraine Office, 66 Portstewart Road, Coleraine, BT52 1EY

The Environmental Statement can also be viewed by clicking the link for the Planning NI website below, using the view planning application search function.

Planning NI website
Case Reference: LA01/2019/0772/F

Following ongoing consultations with the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, ScottishPower Renewables Ltd, has omitted the previously included ‘energy storage units’ from the Corkey Windfarm Repower planning application. The removal of the energy storage units from the Development does not alter the technical assessments presented in the ES. An updated version of the “Indicative Layout of Substation Compound” (Figure 7) has been submitted and can be viewed using the links below.

Community Consultation

Three rounds of Public Information Days (PIDs) were held at the following locations:

Round 1
Glenravel Sports & Community Complex – 22nd August 2017
Loughgiel Millennium Centre – 23rd August 2017
Round 2
Glenravel Sports & Community Complex – 4th June 2019
Loughgiel Millennium Centre – 5th June 2019
Round 3
Loughgiel Millennium Centre - 26th June 2019

Benefits

As the UK’s leading onshore wind developer, owner and operator, at SPR we are keen to integrate ourselves into the communities in which we operate our windfarms.

SPR has a long-standing foundation in Northern Ireland, and currently operate five onshore windfarms in Northern Ireland, with key interests in Belfast Harbour and with Harland and Wolff which were used to assist in the build out of some of our offshore wind portfolio.

The development of our West of Duddon Sands Offshore Windfarm (operational since 2014) enabled the construction of the £50 million facility at Belfast Harbour which began in early 2012, creating the first purpose built offshore wind installation and pre-assembly harbour in the UK and Ireland, supporting up to 300 jobs in the process.

SPR is also progressing East Anglia ONE Offshore Windfarm towards construction. Lamprell, in partnership with Harland and Wolff, have been awarded a significant foundation fabrication contract. The value of this contract is circa £30 million with an average labour force of 200 people across the duration of the project with a peak of around 350 jobs.

Our community benefit funds support a wide range of worthwhile local initiatives, and SPR remains committed to working closely with the communities in which we operate, including continuing to maximise opportunities for local businesses.

We are proud to have voluntarily contributed to local communities to date in Northern Ireland, which include donations made to and managed by, the Fermanagh Trust, and funding for local primary schools. These funds have been used to support a wide range of projects in local communities in Northern Ireland.

We are keen to discuss a community benefit package, tailored to meet the needs of the surrounding community, and which has the capability to support the areas long term development ambitions.

Outlined below are key benefits of the Project.

Design Considerations

The windfarm design has been reached through feedback from consultees and communities, where turbine positions and associated infrastructure have evolved through the design process to achieve a final layout sympathetic to environmental constraints and surrounding landscape.

The turbines at a proposed 137 metres to tip, allow 5 fewer turbines to be used yet will be capable of producing around 5-6 times the output of the existing 10-turbine Corkey Windfarm.

Contact

The Project Team can be contacted directly by email

References

^[1] Scottish Government, 2016, Calculating Carbon Savings from Wind Farms on Scottish Peatlands - A New Approach
^[2] BEIS; Sub-National Electricity and Gas Consumption Statistics, Jan 2018 (based on average household consumption of 3781KWh)
^[3] Northern Ireland Department of Finance – Poundages 2018-19
^[4] BiGGAR Economics (2015), Onshore Wind: Economic Benefits in Northern Ireland
^[5] Corkey Windfarm Repower Environmental Statement (2019)