This might help:
https://www.highland.gov.uk/info/198/planning_-_long_term_and_area_policies/152/renewable_energy/5
Shamelessly nicked from Alan's blog:
https://alansloman.blogspot.com/?m=0
Hope that helps.
Louise

As far as I know there is no up to date windfarm map for Scotland, probably because it would be too embarrassing..
The nearest thing is a dataset published by SNH https://gateway.snh.gov.uk/natural-spaces/dataset.jsp?dsid=WINDFARM you will need a viewer to open it as a map, using Google Earth is the easiest way.

Highland Council do have something.....http://highland.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5ec04b13a9b049f798cadbd5055f1787
Moray Council have this...http://moray.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=2bfbd3f0255b45b0b12546505f926476
and Aberdeenshire have this https://gis.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/maps/map.aspx?x=337908&y=813529&resolution=200&epsg=27700&mapname=aberdeenshire&baseLayer=OS%20Greyscale&datalayers=Wind%20Turbine%20Applications%20,selectFeaturesControl_container

Perth & Kinross http://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/15182/Renewable-energy-proposals-location-map

Argyle & Bute https://argyll-bute.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=fa5f97accaf34ab7a1af1d280eb04568

There used to be an excellent interactive map covering Aberdeenshire (CAWT.co.uk) but the site which was run privately by an individual has recently gone offline.


There is this interactive map published https://www.renewableenergyhub.co.uk/blog/uk-onshore-wind-farms-wind-speed-interactive-map/ but it is an absolute crock of …..
it represents massive windfarms by a little dot and there must be hundreds missing off the map, I can only see one near me on the map when in reality I am surrounded.

Note that most of the maps only include large windfarms and ignore the hundreds, if not thousands of small 1-5 turbine wind factories that decimate the landscape.

Hi

Is it illegal to walk through or camp among the wind farms? What is the recommended distance I should keep from the base of the towers? Are they fenced off? I do not plan to cross any of them but may need to if Plan A does not work in some distant year. I always have a plan B & C!

I am not sure if I hate the turbines or the roads that were built to service them more.
William

From my experience William, you can wander through a completed windfarm, there will only be restrictions during construction. You may not want to pitch too close due to the amount of concrete at the base and I find the sound unnerving, but they aren't dangerous per se. I find them unsettling. So, if you had to, you should be safe.
I'm sure someone else will be along to say I'm totally wrong, but I've wandered through a few locally and never had a problem, more likely to happen across another walker or bizarrely birdwatchers.

The wind turbine noise can travel a couple of kilometres under certain weather conditions and be very annoying over the long term. Many rural residents have been driven to despair by long term noise torture but for one night you are probably talking about the same amount of discomfort as sharing a bothy with a noisy snorer.

I won't bore people with details, you can look them up yourself, but basically the scandal is that planning permission for wind farms is assessed using a noise standard called ETSU-R-97, which ridiculously was created by the wind industry themselves using a puppet organisation called the Institute of Acoustics which sounds like a credible professional organisation but which is actually dominated by wind industry mercenary consultants. Any other industrial activity is measured for noise impact using a totally different standard (BS4142).

ETSU-R-97 is severely flawed but was endorsed by successive UK energy secretaries who were highly pro windfarm development and continues to be used by the Scottish Government who are wind farm fanatics. One of the main flaws is the assumption that wind turbine noise only comes direct from each individual turbine, decreases with distance from the turbine and can be masked by other noise, especially the wind itself. In reality there is a phenomenon known as EAM where very low frequency thumps and bumps can travel long distances. It is this noise that drives people barmy the most.https://scotlandagainstspin.org/download/17515/.
ETSU is so ridiculous it even allows wind farms to create more noise at night, when people are likely to be trying to sleep, than in the daytime.
Of course no wind farm was ever assessed with regard to noise impact on itinerant campers, even full time residents are ignored.

I understand that in the 19th century there were around 9,000 windmills in Holland.

A windmill is one thing Humphrey, a 135m high, wind turbine is something entirely different. One turns canvas covered sails slowly and gracefully, probably pumping water off farmland into a drainage ditch the other turns enormous fibreglass and epoxy blades at speeds with the tips approaching the speed of sound, rapidly pumping money tonnes of money out of the pockets of utility bill payers and into the bank accounts of rich land owners and foreign owned utility companies.
I have never heard of a windmill killing large numbers of birds and bats.
Even Windy Miller's famous mill only made a musical noise for a few minutes, it didn't affect the physical and mental health of the residents of Camberwick Green by 24/7 noise torture.

And now there are nine-million bicycles in Beijing - that's a fact. Even more scary

Hi Neil

All your needs are met in this blog post I wrote in October 2016:

Planning a wind farm-free TGO Challenge

And of course, the latest blight to screw up the Highlands is run of the river hydro schemes. I wrote this back in February of this year, with links to the Highland Council mapping for the schemes on their patch. Note: This only covers about half the Challenge area.

Scottish Highland Hydro Scheme Mapping

And the very best of British planning your route!

Alan

As I have mentioned above Alan, Aberdeenshire Council do now have a map https://gis.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/maps/map.aspx?x=337908&y=813529&resolution=200&epsg=27700&mapname=aberdeenshire&baseLayer=OS%20Greyscale&datalayers=Wind%20Turbine%20Applications%20,selectFeaturesControl_container
and the excellent CAWT website that you link to has sadly shut down.

Many thanks all for the help and useful links.

Sadly it looks as though it will be quite a challenge to avoid them.

I bet the veteran challengers see many areas changed for the worse over their years of walking