Ourack Wind Farm granted planning approval

The Ourack wind farm will consist of 17 wind turbines and have a capacity of around 100MW, generating enough electricity to meet the requirements of approximately 64,000 households. 

Alison Daugherty, Vattenfall’s Project Manager for Ourack, said:  

“The decision to grant consent follows a lengthy development process, during which we have worked to incorporate feedback from the local community and stakeholders.  

“We will now work with stakeholders, including residents and local businesses, to ensure that the proposal is constructed as sensitively as possible while offering opportunities to Highland businesses.” 

Craig Mills, CEO of Cairngorms Business Partnership, said:  

"The Cairngorms Business Partnership welcomes the consent for the Ourack Wind Farm, which marks an important milestone in Scotland’s journey towards a sustainable energy future. This project exemplifies the power of collaboration between developers, statutory consultees and authorities, ensuring that the needs of people and the environment are carefully balanced. 

“We are particularly encouraged by Vattenfall’s commitment to working with Highland businesses to deliver this project with sensitivity to our unique environment while creating tangible opportunities for local growth. This is a chance to demonstrate how sustainable development can drive economic resilience and innovation in the Highlands, and we look forward to seeing the positive impacts unfold." 

Yvonne Crook, chair of Highland CIC, said:  

“We are pleased to see the Ourack Wind Farm development progress to the consent stage. Alongside their direct community consultation activity in the Cairngorms, Vattenfall has emerged as a key partner of Highland CIC, contributing significantly to strategic discussions surrounding the opportunities and community benefits that the green revolution in the Highlands can bring.” 

Further information

About Ourack onshore wind farm 

• 100 MW Capacity 
• Equivalent of approximately 64,000 UK households powered 
• Construction is expected to start in 2028 
• 17 wind turbines 
• Tip height of 180m.

Find out more about Ourack Wind Farm here. 

Households Supplied Figure

To understand how much renewable energy a wind farm could produce during a year you multiply the capacity of the wind farm by the number of hours in a year:

(MW capacity) x (hours in year)

(105) x (365 x24)

105 x 8760

This results in a theoretical maximum generation over a year of: 919800 MWh

This calculation assumes that the wind blows at the optimum wind speed throughout every hour of the year. Due to wind speed fluctuations a typical onshore wind farm produces circa. 30 to 40% of its theoretical maximum per year. For the purpose of this calculation the 30% figure has been used. It should be noted that from the wind assessment work undertaken at Ourack it is considered that the wind farm would produce more than 30% of the theoretical maximum.

To calculate the predicted output of the wind farm the theoretical maximum output is multiplied by the capacity factor (ie 30% = 0.3)

(theoretical output) x (capacity factor)

919800 MWh x 0.3

This results in a predicted generation of 275,940 MWh

Ofgem suggests annual household electricity usage is 4,238.30 Kilowatt hours (KWh). For the purpose of this calculation the figure has been rounded up to 4,300 KWh to provide a conservative result. 

To calculate the number of households that the predicted generation of the Ourack wind farm proposal would power it is necessary to divide the predicted generation by the amount of energy used by each household.

Predicted generation / household energy usage

275,940 MWh / 4,300 KWh

275,940,000 KWh / 4,300 KWh.

The calculation shows that 275940 MWh equates to the amount of electricity to be used by 64,172 households.