Green light for two hydro schemes in Cairngorms

THE Cairngorms National Park Authority today gave the go-ahead for two more small hydro schemes in the park.

The new Hydro Schemes will be created in the Cairngorms National Park

The schemes at Glen Prosen in Angus and Glenfernate in Perthshire are both small scale run-of-river schemes with the Glen Prosen project feeding into the national grid while at Glenernate, the hydro scheme is off-grid and will provide power to a remote shooting lodge, a shepherd’s cottages and self catering accommodation.

The two approvals at the CNPA’s planning committee in Kingussie follow the planning permissions granted earlier this year for a hydro scheme on the Queen’s Balmoral Estate and Blair Castle.

Murray Ferguson, the CNPA’s director of Sustainable Rural Development said: “Our planning team are dealing with a steady flow of these types of developments – both pre-application discussions and working through submitted applications – for a range of small scale renewable energy schemes but particularly hydro projects.”

He added: “We are very supportive of renewable projects in the Park that are appropriate in scale and character. Not only do they contribute to lowering the carbon footprint of the Cairngorms National Park and the aim of using our resources sustainably but rural businesses are seeing economic gains by investing in renewable projects.”