THE renewable energy developer behind plans for a new wind farm in North Ayrshire have praised local communities for their "active engagement" with the project.

Galileo have now revealed that their plans for up to 13 turbines, with a maximum tip height of up to 200 metresz, will be submitted to the Scottish Government later this year.

The Crosbie wind farm project, on an upland area between Fairlie, West Kilbride and Dalry, will include a battery energy storage system (BESS) to store the renewable energy that is produced on the site.

The proposal will have the capacity to generate over 78MW of clean, green energy and could power up to 51,289 homes per year.

Galileo described the engagement with locals in West Kilbride, Fairlie, Ardrossan, Dalry, Millport and Brodick as part of “one of the most extensive pre-application consultation exercises delivered in Scotland".

The Edinburgh-based team in charge of the proposals held three rounds of public exhibitions for the project during the design process and 14 community engagement events since November last year.

It is standard practice for a developer to hold two rounds of exhibitions, but getting the design right for the people who live in and around the proposed site has required an extra design iteration and additional community events. 

Local people have consistently attended these events, and their feedback at each stage of the design iteration process has been invaluable in informing the best layout that factors in environmental and land constraints, visual effects, and wind capacity. 

The final design proposals were presented at the last exhibition events, which took place from August 20-22. Once feedback from these events has been considered, Galileo will submit a planning application to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit towards the end of 2024.

Speaking after the last community events were held, Laura Petrie, senior project manager at Galileo, said: “On behalf of the team behind the project, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the residents of West Kilbride, Fairlie, Ardrossan, Dalry, Millport, Brodick and other neighbouring areas for taking the time to learn about our proposals and give their feedback on our plans as they have developed over the last few months.

"We have always sought to vary venues, days and times of events to enable maximise attendance.

“We have sought to go the extra mile to seek out local views, listen to them and adapt our proposals based on the feedback we have received, and it has been a two-way process.

"We believe this has been one of the most extensive pre-application consultation exercises ever delivered in Scotland.

“We have said all the way along that we wish to be a good neighbour to these local communities and a key part of achieving this is factoring in people’s views into our plans.

"We are grateful that so many have taken the time to come along and learn about our proposals at each stage of the design process and given their feedback, which has helped us to refine our proposals and develop a design that we are proud of.

“We do not take lightly the time burden that these events can have on local people, especially those who are already volunteering in their local communities, and we are grateful for the active engagement that we have had since we first presented our initial proposals back in November 2023.  

“We are now considering the latest feedback prior to finalising our plans and submitting them to the Scottish Government later this year.”

More information on the proposals, and how to keep in touch with the Galileo team, can be found online at www.crosbiewindfarm.co.uk.