Why I visited Skye to cover wind farm controversies

The Herald Scotland

17-06-2025

The island, in other words, is the current centre of an increasingly heated debate taking place across many areas of rural Scotland over the planning and consenting process for clean energy infrastructure.
Skye, host to three million visitors each year, is the target home of eight proposed windfarms at various stages of planning, some of them repowering older sites and replacing smaller turbines for those twice their size. It is also to see an expansion of powerlines and other associated energy infrastructure.
I write about climate and environment and I've no doubt that Scotland absolutely does need to push forward on the path to Net Zero to do our fair share in trying to halt climate breakdown.
But it's also important to me that we tell the stories and reactions of people and communities on the ground, look at the issues they are raising and listen to their views on strategy, policy and the sector which transforming their environment even as it decarbonises the grid and seeks financial profit.
Wherever we live in Scotland, we do need to get our heads around the rapid roll out of infrastructure set to take place over the coming years. And aside from those involved in working within the sector, the people who are looking at it most closely are those who live right next to the new wave of wind turbines, substations, battery parks and powerlines.
Often, I found, when I visited Skye earlier this month, those pushing back against onshore wind, considered themselves quite green – vegans, wildlife lovers, followers of relatively low-impact lifestyles.
Among them is Andrew Robinson, a spokesperson for Skye Windfarm Information Group (SWIG), who lives in an off-grid cottage in the north of Skye, powered by solar panels and heated by a woodburner, increasingly surrounded by wind turbines.
When, last week, it was announced that the Scottish Government had granted planning permission for the Skye Reinforcement Overhead Line, he was not celebrating. The 1,500-member Skye Wind Farm Information Group, expressed their disappointment
Robinson described it as a 'failure of democracy', saying: 'The Highland Council objected to the plans in November 2023. As the local planning authority, such an objection would normally trigger a public inquiry, but, instead planning consent has been given and the Council's objection ignored.'
SWIG noted that residents noted that a powerline of such a scale would only be required and consented to if more windfarms were planned on the island.
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'This decision today,' suggested Robinson, 'could be seen as a presumption from the Scottish Government that all the wind farms proposed for Skye will be built.'
Next week will see a public inquiry into one of those proposed windfarms, near Dunvegan on Skye, where developer Nadara has proposed removing 12 turbines at Ben Aketil Wind Farm and replacing them with nine new ones, along with a battery storage scheme.
Other wind farms have been rejected by councils and gone through the process. Some have had permission accepted, others have been refused. Still more are yet to come – including a giant wind farm near Hawick, as wells as Hill of Fare wind farm in Aberdeenshire.
Winds of change on Skye wind farm controversy (Image: Derek McArthur)
Many across Scotland will be watching. The level of concern across the Highlands over clean energy infrastructure was demonstrated just last weekend, by a large turn out for a public meeting in Beauly's Phipps Hall. 53 Community Councils representing over 72,000 residents across the Highlands expressed unanimous support for a joint statement calling for a pause in the wave of major energy infrastructure developments.
The Ben Aketil public inquiry is about this one wind farm and the impact it will have on the island and its landscape, but campaigners raised wider issues with me.
How many more onshore windfarms do we need to decarbonise our energy system? Why are particular areas carrying so much of the change? Are demand, grid capacity and generation all rising in concert?
And are campaigners right to point out, as some do, that Scotland already has sufficient onshore in the pipeline and little more is needed? Are they justified in calling for a more 'considered' approach to consent?
Or does Scotland still need to push forward with greater urgency? Are these wind farm and pylon objectors in danger of stalling vital progress towards Net Zero and a decarbonised grid?
You can read my articles on the application and surrounding issues in the Herald this Sunday and next week when we will be live-blogging from the inquiry.