Oliver Forest Wind Farm

The application for the project, known as a Section 36 application, has been submitted to the Energy Consents Unit (ECU).  You can view the application online at the ECU website, or on this website under planning application documents. 

This page will be kept up to date with the latest project information as it progresses through planning.

Public Notice

OLIVER FOREST WIND FARM LIMITED
ELECTRICITY ACT 1989
TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (SCOTLAND) ACT 1997
THE ELECTRICITY WORKS (ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT) (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2017

Notice is hereby given that Oliver Forest Wind Farm Limited (the “Company”) with company registration number 14293534, having its registered office at 19th Floor, 22 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4BQ has submitted Supplementary Information to the Scottish Ministers in relation to the application for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to construct and operate a wind farm known as Oliver Forest Wind Farm (“the Proposed Development”), located on land directly north-west of the A701 between Tweedsmuir and Glenbreck, approximately 12.5 km south of Broughton and approximately 19 km north of Moffat, within the planning authority area of the Scottish Borders Council. The installed capacity of the proposed generating station would exceed 50MW, comprising up to 7 turbines with a maximum ground to blade tip height of 200 metres, and has been subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) under the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (“EIA Regulations”). An EIA Report for the Proposed Development was produced in August 2024 to accompany the application for consent.

The Company has also requested a direction under section 57(2) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 that planning permission for the Proposed Development be deemed to be granted.

The Supplementary Information now being submitted includes information relating to the prospective grid connection corridors and associated grid connection infrastructure to connect the Proposed Development to the National Grid. Since the grid connection works are necessary for the Proposed Development to operate as proposed, environmental information is being provided (where available) on their associated likely significant effects, under the EIA Regulations. For clarification, the grid connection works are not the subject of the Section 36 application under the Electricity Act 1989.

The Additional Information provides assessment of:

• The solus effects of the prospective grid cable works;
• The in-combination assessment of the wind farm with the prospective grid cable works; and
• The cumulative assessment of the wind farm and the prospective grid connection works with other wind farms and their grid connection works where such information is available.

It is also supported by a Planning Statement Update.

Copies of the Additional Information and Planning Statement Update, alongside all the application documentation and EIA Report, Supplementary Information , are available for public inspection, free of charge, on the application website https://projects.statkraft.co.uk/Oliver-Forest/ or on the Scottish Government Planning and Environmental Appeals Division website at https://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/ under case reference WIN-140-12.

The Additional Information and Planning Statement Update are also available for public inspection in person, free of charge, during normal office hours at:

Copies of the additional information may be obtained from Oliver Forest Wind Farm Limited (telephone: 0800 772 0668 / email: ukprojects@statkraft.com) for the cost of £100.00.

Any new representations on the additional information may be submitted by email to the Scottish Government Planning and Environmental Appeals Division at DPEA@gov.scot or Karen.Cowie@gov.scot, using the relevant DPEA reference number WIN-140-12 and specifying the grounds for representation. Please note that you must be in possession of a working email address to submit a representation virtually.

If you would prefer to submit your representation by post, please send to Ms Karen Cowie, Case Officer, DPEA, Scottish Government, Ground Floor, Hadrian House, Callendar Business Park, Falkirk FK1 1XR, identifying the proposal and specifying the grounds for representation.

Written representations should be dated, clearly stating the name (in block capitals) and full postal address of those making representations. Only representations sent by email will receive acknowledgment.

All representations should be received no later than 21 August 2026. Scottish Ministers may not be able to consider written representations received after this date.

Any subsequent additional information which is submitted by the Company will be subject to further public notice in this manner, and representations to such information will be accepted as per this notice.

Following examination of the environmental information and all views and representations received, Scottish Ministers will determine the application for consent in one of two ways:  

• Grant consent, with or without conditions attached; or
• Refuse the proposal

All previous representations received by Scottish Ministers in relation to the application remain valid.

General Data Protection Regulations

The Scottish Government processes representations under the Electricity Act 1989. To support transparency in decision making, the Scottish Government publishes online at www.energyconsents.scot.

A privacy notice is published on the Help page at www.energyconsents.scot and at www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk. These explain how the Scottish Government processes your personal information. If you have any concerns about the processing of your personal information by the Scottish Government, please contact the ECU (by email at EconsentsAdmin@gov.scot or write to Scottish Government, Energy Consents Unit, 4th Floor, 5 Atlantic Quay, 150 Broomielaw, Glasgow, G2 8LU) or the DPEA (by email at dpea@gov.scot or write to Data protection and Information Assets Team, Information and Technology Services, V Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD).

Project Progress

Oliver Forest Wind Farm is located in the Scottish Borders Council area approximately 12.5km south of Broughton and 19km north of Moffat.

The proposal submitted consists of seven turbines up to 200m to blade tip height.  To maximise the use of  green energy produced on site, we have included a potential location for a Battery Energy System (BESS) on site.  Originally included as part of the Scoping Report (December 2022), the BESS would provide the opportunity to store excess energy produced at times of low demand and release it back on to the grid at periods of high demand.

Since the project was introduced in December 2022 (this was our scoping submission), our studies progressed and we received consultation feedback, during our exhibition events held over March 2023 and 2024, the project changed to reflect comments received and the findings of our onsite studies. 

The original proposal was for 10 turbines up to 250m to tip height and consideration for BESS.  The final proposal is for is for seven turbines up to 200m and the option of BESS.  We believe this proposal finds the balance of providing a substantial renewable energy contribution, while addressing feedback received and incorporating the findings of the completed environmental and technical onsite studies.  

In addition to providing clean green energy for over 46,500 homes, the proposal includes recreational and biodiversity enhancement opportunities. If consented we will develop an inclusive recreational heritage trail.  Our Nature Enhancement Management Plan, with input from BugLife, will contribute a range of biodiversity measures within the site.

Following the objection from the Scottish Borders Council in July 2025, the application has been transferred to the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) of the Scottish Government (reference WIN-140-12) for a Public Local Inquiry in 2026. All the inquiry documents and information can be found at DPEA Oliver Forest Scotland.

Where you can view the Application

The planning documents are available to view online. You can access the documents at the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) website www.energyconsents.scot under the application reference ECU00004669 or on this website under planning application documents.  

The Non-Technical Summary of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report, which can be found in the General Documents in the Planning application documents folder provides a useful summary of the full Report.  

If you would like to view the application in person you can do this at:

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