Area Profiles - Inverness and East Highland

Inverness and East Highland encompass the environs of the Highland capital and its surrounding area. This part of the Highlands and Islands has a population of around 136,500 and extends from the seaboard town of Nairn in the east to Fort Augustus by Loch Ness in the south west, and from Easter Ross and the Black Isle in the north to Badenoch and Strathspey in the south.

The area has a long association with renewable energy being home to many of the post-World War II hydro-electric schemes. While development of hydro electric schemes is unlikely again to match the scale of the 1950s and 60s, some new schemes are nevertheless coming on stream. The Glendoe hydro scheme, currently under construction, is the largest scheme to have been built in the UK in many decades. Other hydro schemes in development tend to be small scale.

This heritage of hydro electric-generation has not hampered diversification in the renewable energy field. Inverness and East Highland has seen a number of wind power developments while the area’s afforestation gives strong potential for commercial-scale biomass activity.

The Cromarty Firth has seen a considerable amount of oil-related activity since the 1970s, and the fabrication yard and dry-dock facilities at Nigg and the deep harbour and port facilities at Invergordon offer a prime asset for the renewables sector.

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