Moray Council: Bio-energy plants planned near Buckie and Elgin

Two bio-energy plants could be built near Elgin and Buckie in order to convert waste feed stock into gas.

Acorn Bioenergy has submitted initial plans to Moray Council to build at Longmorn, two miles south of Elgin, and at Rathven, which is sited on the eastern side of Buckie.

Councillors will be asked to give feedback on the proposals at a meeting next week, before formal planning applications are submitted.

The gas that produced at the plants would be upgraded to biomethane, before being transported elsewhere and fed onto the national grid.

Each will have a generating capacity of 100GW a year.

The Longmorn site extends to 10.2 hectares of farm land, with the A941 Elgin to Craigellachie road to the east and Ben Romach Distillery to the South.

At Buckie the plant is proposed for a six hectare site which is currently farmland near the junction of the A98 and March Road.

As both sites are industrial and larger than two hectares they are considered to be major developments.

Members of the planning committee will be able to give their views and highlight any issues of which they may be aware on Tuesday, March 14.

A third proposal of application notice for an energy storage facility at Berryburn near Dunphail will also go before the committee.

Submitted by Renewable Energy Systems Limited, the notice includes a substation, battery enclosures, power conversion units and transformers.

The 4.4 hectare site lies just over seven miles to the south of Forres.

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