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Finally - £2bn offshore wind farm gets the go ahead

By: Chris Anderson 19/07/2017 4C Offshore

General Windfarms

The Inner House of the Court of Session has refused the RSPB’s application to appeal to the Supreme Court regarding the development consent for four Scottish wind farms in the Forth and Firth of Tay.

The wind farms concerned are the Neart na Gaoithe, Inch Cape and Seagreen Alpha and Bravo. They have a combined capacity of 2,284MW.

RSPB initially submitted an appeal against the wind farm in January 2015 claiming that the wind farms would have a detrimental impact on resident and migratory birds and that planning consents granted by Scottish Ministers were defective.

A ruling in RSPB's favour was made in July 2016 and saw planning consents for the projects revoked. Scottish Ministers appealed the decision and last month Scotland's Inner House of the Court of Session overturned the ruling allowing for the continuation of the development of the four projects. RSPB then sought to appeal the decision and applied to the Inner House for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Neart na Gaoithe developer's Mainstream Renewable Power (MPR) has welcomed the decision which ends a long-running judicial with the RSPB blocking the development of the project.

Andy Kinsella (pictured), Chief Operating Officer, Mainstream Renewable Power said: “After more than two years and two court hearings, we hope that the RSPB acknowledges a fair hearing and allows us to get on with delivering the very significant benefits this project brings to the Scottish economy and its environment.

“Once constructed this £2bn project will be capable of supplying 325,000 homes – a city the size of Edinburgh – with clean energy.

“It will create more than 500 direct jobs during construction and over 100 direct permanent jobs once operational. £540 million will be directly invested in Scotland during the construction phase with a further £610m during the operational phase.

“We are delighted with the decision and look forward to working constructively with the RSPB to take the wind farm into construction next year.

“This project was consented by Scottish Ministers in October 2014 on the advice of Scottish Natural Heritage and Marine Scotland. We have been rigorous throughout the project to work with partners and supply chain businesses to find the best possible way to deliver the project and we are looking forward to seeing NnG up and running.

“We have taken advantage of significant advances in the technology to be used allowing the number of turbines to be reduced from the 125 in the original consent application in 2012, to a maximum of 64."

Eddie O'Connor recently went on record to state: "It’s high time the RSPB sat down with Neart na Gaoithe and other wind farms to save the world. We all recognise that the RSPB has a duty to its members to act to protect the UK’s bird populations, and we have had a constructive relationship with them for many years.

What is disappointing is that in order to justify the judicial review they have sought to dramatically overstate the potential impact of this project on birdlife in the Forth and Tay estuaries. Recent suggestions 1,000s of gannets could be harmed are so far from reality it undermines our ability to work together constructively to find common solutions to help mitigate climate change impact on Scotland’s marine wildlife."

The 450MW Neart na Gaoithe project consists of 64 Siemens turbines, each with a 7MW rated capacity, situated on three-legged jackets. If constructed, the array will cover an area of 105km² area and is expected to meet the energy demands of 325,000 Scottish homes annually. Work is expected to start on the project in 2018.

For more information, please follow the links provided. Alternatively you can view the projects using our interactive map.

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Finally - £2bn offshore wind farm gets the go ahead

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