Floating turbines project proposed for Scottish site
A Swedish design and engineering company has proposed installing two floating wind turbines off the north Caithness coast.
Hexicon AB has sought permission from the Scottish government, Highland Council and Orkney Islands Council for the demonstration project. The firm has set up Dounreay Trì Limited to develop the project. The proposed site is about three miles (6km) out to sea from the Dounreay nuclear power complex. The project would also involve laying a subsea cable and a substation. Conservation and climate change campaign organisation WWF Scotland has welcomed the proposal. Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland, said: "This proposal will of course have to go through all the usual planning processes. "However, successfully developing floating turbines could enable Scotland and other nations to secure even more clean power from offshore wind in the future. "There's also something quite symbolic in the fact that clean renewable electricity might one day be being generated within a stone's throw of the failed and polluting nuclear reactor site at Dounreay."