SNP's new net zero wind farm ‘will harm golden eagles'
The SNP Government is considering a proposal for Scawd Law, an eight-turbine scheme on the Holylee estate in the Scottish Borders.
Each turbine would be up to 180m tall and, according to developer Fred Olsen Renewables, the wind farm would generate more than £8 million for the local community.
However, ministers have been warned that the wind farm's impact on golden eagles – a protected species – has been 'substantially' underestimated.
They are being urged to block the scheme with concerns raised over the cumulative impact of wind farms in the region, which is being driven by the SNP's net zero targets.
Dr Cat Barlow, the chief executive of Restoring Upland Nature (RUN), said the charity had formally objected to Scawd Law.
'After comparing proposals with the insights provided by our state-of-the art monitoring equipment and detailed field observations by our highly experienced staff, we do not believe Scawd Law in the Moorfoot Hills is the right place for a wind farm development,' Dr Barlow said.
'The additional information report currently being used by the site's developers is dated and substantially underestimates the impact on golden eagles at a particularly critical time for the local population.'
Scottish ministers have pledged to reach net zero by 2045.
However, regions such as the Scottish Borders have emerged as battlegrounds with local communities fighting the expansion of wind farms.
These include plans for a 62-turbine scheme near Teviothead and the 59-turbine Liddesdale wind farm that if consented would be located a couple of miles apart.
Borders Wind Farm Watch, a campaign group, said the developer's information report relies on data that only account for eagle activity up to early 2024.
The group said 'it estimates minimal impact' and pointed to recent tracking held by RUN showing eagle presence has surged by 238 per cent in the area.
It said this 'drastically' alters the risk profile, adding: 'Collision risk estimates based on older data are no longer valid and significantly understate the threat'.
Though once abundant in southern Scotland, by early 2018 the golden eagle population had decreased to between two and four pairs across Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders.
Conservation efforts have helped the species bounce back and the golden eagle population in the south of Scotland has more than tripled to the highest number recorded in the area for three centuries.
Last year, a three-year-old golden eagle named Sparky died after colliding with a wind turbine in Dumfries and Galloway. It was locally fledged from a nest and was found 15 metres from a turbine base at the Windy Rig wind farm.
Dr Barlow said breeding territories must remain undisturbed for long-term population sustainability, as golden eagles were highly sensitive to disturbance and tended to avoid areas around wind turbines.
She warned that the expansion of wind farms 'without rigorous, up-to-date environmental data risks pushing these birds out of the very landscapes they need to survive'.
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