Cumulative Impact Map

We have built a cumulative impact map showing large scale energy sector projects using information available on the Highland Council planning website and from developers. In addition we show the boundaries of the Flow Country Unesco World Heritage Site. So far, we are covering Caithness, the offshore area around Caithness, and Sutherland. If you spot a mistake or if you would like to get involved to cover your area, please get in touch at info@highlandrenewablesdatabase.org.

The cumulative map not only shows current and future hotspots for developments, but it also shows the true size of developments by making it possible to compare them to each other and to houses, villages, and towns in the area.

Explanations and a key can be found below the map. Last update 04/02/2025.

Colour key:

•     Yellow — Projects at early planning stages
•     Orange — Projects with full planning applications submitted
•     Light Green — Planning in Principle for a development approved
•     Dark Green — Development approved
•     Blue — Project built or under construction
•     Red — Boundary of the Flow Country Unesco World Heritage Site

Circles represent wind turbines with the size of the circle relating to the size of the turbine. Lines represent cable connection. All the odd shapes are sites of developments. Click on a site or on a turbine to get information about the development. You can click on the menu button on the top left of the map and disable Planning Applications if the shapes of the sites are over the turbines and you would like to get the turbine information.

We don't show the history of a site and we don't show refused or withdrawn projects in order to try and make the map more readable.

The boundary fo the Flow Country World Heritage Site comes from Open Data Scotland. You can find the data and a link to the licence here.

Please zoom in! Onshore developments are smaller than offshore developments, Battery Energy Storage Systems are much smaller than wind farms, houses are smaller than BESS... If you zoom right in, you should be able to find your house.