Aberdeenshire could soon be home to Scotland's largest solar farm under plans being put forward by an Irish energy firm.
Elgin Energy says its proposal for a 260-acre site near St Fergus will power more than 15,000 homes - or 20,000 electric vehicles - per year once operational.
The 50 megawatt project would be the biggest ever built in Scotland, and one of the largest solar projects in the whole of the UK. Over its lifetime, the development will offset more than 720,000 tonnes of CO2.
The plans will be discussed by Aberdeenshire Council's Buchan Area Committee later today, where councillors have been asked to raise no formal objection by planners, subject to a number of conditions.
The ground-mounted solar PV farm and energy storage facility would be built on land at Kirkton, which is 1.2km south-east of St Fergus, near Peterhead.
The proposed project will accommodate approximately 50 megawatts (MW) of ground mounted solar PV panels and a 20MW energy storage facility. A project lifetime of 40 years is proposed.
Sheep will continue to graze the site once operational.
At the end of the proposed 40-year operational period, the solar farm and its ancillary equipment will be decommissioned, dismantled and removed, and the site fully reinstated.
The solar industry now employs more people in America than the oil and gas sector, and Elgin Energy managing director Ronan Kilduff has said previously that he feels Scotland has similar potential.
The company has successfully obtained planning permission for 1GW+ across close to 60 projects, including another 50MW project at Milltown Airfield in Moray.
A further 3GW+ of projects are at late stages of development across the UK, Ireland, and Australia.
The Kirkton project is currently being considered by the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit. The Buchan Area Committee is being consulted as part of that process.
The views of local councillors will go forward to the local authority's Infrastructure Services Committee to agree a response to the consultation.
Planning officials have made a recommendation that the council makes no objection to the proposals.
Alan Wood, Director of Environment and Infrastructure Services at Aberdeenshire Council, said: "The proposal as assessed against national, strategic and local planning policy is considered to be acceptable.
"Whilst a degree of localised visual harm is likely to occur, the benefits of the development in terms of renewable energy production and biodiversity enhancement would outweigh such harm on a wider scale."