Visual Assessment of Windfarms: Best Practice

The development process for many windfarms requires formal environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the incorporation of the results into an environmental statement (ES). SNH’s experience is that there can be a great deal of variation in the way that visual impact assessment (VIA) is dealt with in EIA. This project involved: a review of relevant guidance, research and development work on visibility, visual impact and significance; an investigation of the visibility of eight existing Scottish windfarms; a comparison between as-built visibility and estimates of visibility in the ESs; evaluation of Zone of Visual Influence (ZVI) and other assessment tools; and generation of Best Practice Guidelines for VIA of windfarms. MAIN FINDINGS • Many guidelines on windfarm development appear to be based on first generation windfarms and need to be revised for second and third generation turbines. • There is some research and a wide and diverse range of guidance and opinion on the detailed issues of ZVI, distance, visibility and significance for windfarms, explained by the complexity and the subjectivity of the issues, the desire of one set of windfarm interests to minimise the political, professional and public perception of the visual (an