FOI Request - Windfarm Developments
Request 101003870718
I hereby request the following information in relation to wind farms (“wind farms” meaning developments for electricity generation by wind turbines) located within the administrative area of Moray:
1. A list of all wind farm developments (both onshore and offshore) within Moray (including Moray Firth) that are operational, consented or under construction (please indicate status for each). For each development please provide:
Name of development
Location (including council ward or nearest settlement)
Date of commissioning (if operational) or expected commissioning (if under construction) or date of consent (if consented)
Installed capacity (in MW)
Number of turbines (if available)
Whether onshore or offshore
2. For the wind farms listed under (1), what is the average size (installed capacity) of operational onshore wind farms in Moray (i.e., sum of MW / number of sites) and likewise the average for offshore wind farms in Moray (if applicable).
3. For each wind farm under (1), indicate the ownership structure, including whether it is:
wholly commercially owned (e.g., by a private/industrial company)
partly community owned (with a community shareholding)
wholly community owned (community trust or cooperative)
Please include the name of the community group/trust (if applicable) and the percentage of ownership held by the community or local co operative.
4. For each wind farm under (1) that has a community benefit fund or any financial transfer mechanism to the local community (including community trust, local authority, or community benefit scheme) please provide:
the annual amount transferred (in £)
the period over which transfers have been made (e.g., since commissioning, or since fund establishment)
any known commitment for the lifetime of the wind farm (for example, £/MW/year or total lifetime fund)
whether any capital investment (rather than annual fund) has been made into the community (for example share offers to local people) and details of that investment.
5. Please provide any additional relevant information you hold on the local economic and community impact of wind farms in Moray, for example:
number of jobs created locally (during construction / operations)
local supply chain or local procurement commitments
any monitoring of community benefit uptake (how many local groups have accessed funds)
any proposals for future wind farms in Moray which include community ownership or benefit schemes.
Response 17-11-2025
1. Moray Council is not the determining authority for offshore windfarms and they lie outwith our administrative jurisdiction. We would therefore not hold all the information requested for them. For offshore windfarms contact should be made with the Marine Directorate, formerly Marine Scotland.
2. This information has been sent to the requester directly.
3. Not held. Moray Council would not hold this information. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held. Beyond the name of the initial developer/applicant we would not have a record of the commercial constitution of each windfarm. Also whether community group sought to enter into an ownership agreement with the windfarm operator is not something we would be involved with at this time. Where National Planning Framework 4 is applied to some schemes, we or the Energy Consents Unit might start to see Community Wealth Building plans that would detail the opportunities for community partnership or shared ownership. These have yet to come to fruition on the ground however for consented, but as yet unbuilt windfarms.
4. As per Scottish Government Guidance, Moray Council as a Planning Authority has distanced itself from the perceived incentives that Community Benefit provided. This was to ensure any determination of windfarm proposals was kept separate from the financial incentives that might be offered by developers. As such, Moray Council has had nothing to do with the administration of such funds. We understand that for most of the established windfarms in Moray a figure of £2000 per mW per year was agreed by industry, with this climbing to £5000 per mW several years ago. We are aware that communities and groups have applied for and received funding from existing windfarm community benefit funds but hold no data on this. It is worth noting that for several of the larger windfarms, they were consented by the Scottish Government rather than the Moray Council, for which we were only a consultee, and did not therefore stipulate what kind of community benefit measures were to be put in place at that time.
5. Largely answered in previous responses. We would not collate such information, but when developers submit supporting information for windfarms, especially Environmental Impact Assessment reports, these usually contain a chapter on economic development that details there proposed job creation, supply chain proposals etc. The enquirer could access EIA reports via the developer, Scottish Government or Moray Council e-planning websites and see a selection of EIA submissions from windfarm developers.