Forsinain Forest wind farm proposal sets out 219m turbines

A proposed 200MW AI data-centre campus north of Research Avenue in Riccarton would face Green Belt and landscape tests if it proceeds to a full planning application, according to an Edinburgh Council committee report.

The report, dated 25 March 2026, describes the site as a 24-hectare agricultural field within the Green Belt and Gogar Special Landscape Area. It says the applicant would need to show the development is acceptable under Green Belt policy and demonstrate that it qualifies as a “green data centre” before it could be treated as a National Development under the National Planning Framework 4's Digital Fibre Network category.

The council report lists a heat and power plan and sustainability information among the material expected with a detailed application. It says the assessment should address matters including waste heat, renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as landscape, noise, lighting, air quality, transport, flooding, ecology and heritage.

Those are tests for assessing a future application, not findings that the site is suitable or permission to build. The council portal page for 25/03978/PAN currently labels the case “Consultation Approved” and records that decision as issued on 22 August 2025. A Proposal of Application Notice approves a consultation process; it does not approve the data-centre development. The evidence reviewed for this story does not establish whether a separate full application has since been lodged.

Edinburgh sets Green Belt tests for proposed Riccarton AI data centre

Proposed 40-year wind farm with up to 12 turbines (max 219m tip height), tracks, substation, and infrastructure.

Forsinain Forest Wind Farm - Erection and operation of a wind farm for a period of 40 years, comprising up to 12 wind turbines (10 with a maximum blade tip height of 219m, 2 with a maximum blade tip height of 206m) access tracks, borrow pits, substation, control building, anemometer mast, and ancillary infrastructure. This case will be determined by the Energy Consents Unit. Please visit Energy Consents Unit at https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationSearch.aspx?T=2 using reference number ECU00004935.

Forsinain Forest Wind Farm is proposed for land south-east of Forsinain at Forsinard. Its application describes a 40-year wind farm with up to 12 turbines: 10 with maximum blade-tip heights of 219m and two at 206m. It also lists access tracks, borrow pits, a substation, control building and anemometer mast.

Highland Council records the application as received on 27 August 2026, validated on 28 August and still under consideration. The description says the Energy Consents Unit will determine the case; the current record contains no decision.

Clackmannanshire Council’s planning committee formally objected on 15 January 2026 to the Windburn Wind Farm proposal, citing harm to the Ochil Hills landscape and views from the settled lowlands to the south.

The Section 36 application describes up to 13 turbines, 35 MW of battery energy storage and associated infrastructure. The proposed site straddles Clackmannanshire and Perth and Kinross. A council report says its generating capacity exceeds 50 MW, so Scottish Ministers consider the consent application. It identifies Perth and Kinross Council as the other relevant authority, with a separate response to follow.

In setting out the objection, the committee said the turbines would introduce large structures and moving blades onto the Ochils’ otherwise uninterrupted main scarp skyline, harming the Ochils Special Landscape Area. Its report also cites views from Ben Cleuch and walking routes near The Law, Ben Ever and The Nebit, which it says currently have no turbine visibility, as well as cumulative effects with existing wind farms.

The Clackmannanshire portal records the consultation response as decided on 15 January and displays the application status as “Unknown”. That is the council’s statutory-consultee response; the council record reviewed here does not give a Scottish Ministers consent outcome for the wind farm.

View the full application record