The planning application has been submitted for a project to install a multi-turbine floating wind-energy demonstrator off Dounreay.
The floating “wind farm” would consist of two turbines fixed onto a single semi-submersible platform, with a total capacity of 8 to 12 megawatts.
Sweden-based Hexicon appointed WS Atkins as its engineering partner last year to help design the pioneering offshore wind technology.
It is thought the project would be a world first, if it comes to fruition.
Norwegian energy giant Statoil has its own plans for a floating wind farm off Aberdeenshire.
But the turbines for Statoil’s Hywind development would be moored individually, rather than in pairs.
Dounreay Tri, the company formed to guide through the project, filed its application with Scottish Ministers on October 19 and is awaiting a decision.
It intends to install the platform 3.7 miles off Dounreay, the home of one of the world’s foremost nuclear testing facilities, along with an export cable to bring the power to shore.
Onshore infrastructure would also be needed to connect it to the existing substation at Dounreay.
Dounreay Tri hopes to have the turbines commissioned and connected to the grid by 2018.
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