Planning Consent Awarded

In October 2025, Scottish Ministers granted Section 36 consent under the Electricity Act 1989 to Salamander Wind Project Company Ltd to construct and operate the project's onshore Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), known as the "Salamander Offshore Wind Farm: Onshore Energy Balancing Infrastructure". The infrastructure is sited at lands at Lunderton, north of Peterhead, in the Aberdeenshire Council planning authority area. Scottish Ministers also directed under Section 57(2) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 that planning permission is deemed to be granted, removing the requirement for a separate planning permission grant from Aberdeenshire Council for the BESS site itself. The decision was issued by the Scottish Government's Energy Consents Unit following EIA-regime assessment under the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017. This Section 36 consent is the second major Scottish Ministers consent secured by Salamander in 2025, complementing the offshore Section 36 + Marine Licence package awarded on 24 July 2025. Together with Aberdeenshire Council's onshore Planning Permission in Principle for the substation and associated onshore infrastructure (March 2025), the BESS consent completes the principal onshore consenting picture and underpins the project's stated 100 MW battery storage capacity. The notice of decision was placed on the Energy Consents (energyconsents.scot) and Aberdeenshire Council planning registers for public inspection. Salamander's Community Newsletter Edition 3 (December 2025) confirms "In October, we were awarded Section 36 consent for our onshore battery storage facility by the Scottish Government's Energy Consents Unit." The Onshore Energy Balancing Infrastructure provides 100 MW of battery storage to support grid balancing alongside the 100 MW floating wind farm output.