The Scottish Government has granted consent for SSE Renewables’ Berwick Bank project, which is set to become the UK’s largest offshore wind farm.
Located in the North Sea, approximately 38km off the coast from St Abbs, the wind farm is expected to have an estimated capacity of 4.1GW.
Berwick Bank has been in planning for around 31 months, with the government’s deliberations slowed by the project’s potential impact on marine wildlife, especially seabirds.
The development is close to iconic colonies like the Bass Rock, home to the world’s largest colony of northern gannets. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has estimated that the wind farm could kill tens of thousands of seabirds over its lifetime, including kittiwakes, puffins and gannets.
As such, Scottish ministers require the developer, SSE Renewables, to demonstrate that “sufficient” seabird compensation will be put in place before the project can start.
Consent for the construction and operation of the wind farm has been subject to SSE Renewables producing a detailed seabird compensation plan outlining how adverse impacts on seabirds will be compensated for.
The project has secured two connection points to the UK electricity grid – one in East Lothian and another in the Blyth area of Northumberland.
Scotland’s deputy first minister Kate Forbes said: “Ministers have given the Berwick Bank wind farm application extremely careful consideration.
“The decision to grant consent to Berwick Bank is a major step in Scotland’s progress towards achieving net zero and tackling the climate crisis, as well as supporting national energy security and growing our green economy.
“It is also an important decision for Scotland’s renewables sector, and this investment will be further built upon through the delivery of Scotland’s significant future pipeline of offshore wind projects under the ScotWind and the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing rounds.
“We will continue to work closely with the developer and key stakeholders, including those working in fishing and conservation – to minimise the impact of the development on the marine environment and other marine users – and balance the needs of people and nature.”
With current technology, the 4.1GW Berwick Bank wind farm could generate up to 11.2TWh of electricity annually – enough to power around 17% of households in the UK.
SSE Renewables managing director Stephen Wheeler said: “The Scottish Government’s decision to grant a consent order for Berwick Bank offshore wind farm is hugely welcome. At over 4GW of potential capacity, Berwick Bank can play a pivotal role in meeting the mission of Clean Power 2030 for the UK and achieving Scotland’s decarbonisation and climate action goals.”
He added: “Berwick Bank has the potential to rapidly scale-up Scotland’s operational renewable energy capacity and can accelerate the delivery of homegrown, affordable and secure clean energy to UK consumers from Scottish offshore wind, helping meet the UK’s clean power ambition by 2030.”
However, RSPB Scotland director Anne McCall said: “This is a very dark day for seabirds. It is a terrible decision on a really bad development.
“Berwick Bank would be catastrophic for Scotland’s globally important seabirds, which are already facing alarming declines. In addition, its impacts are so damaging they will make the relative impacts of other windfarms significantly higher.”
The Scottish government’s Section 36 consent determination approves the project’s main offshore wind farm array in the outer Firth of Forth off the East Lothian coast.
The decision represents the last major consent necessary for the project to proceed. It is the culmination of more than a decade of development work by SSE Renewables on the project’s design.
Berwick Bank was originally composed of two separate proposals: the Berwick Bank and Marr Bank wind farms. However, following initial rounds of consultation, the decision was made to combine these into a single proposal.
Delivery of the project will now be subject to SSE securing a contract for new low-carbon offshore wind power under the UK’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, as well as reaching a final investment decision.
Berwick Bank offshore wind farm is vital to the UK’s 2030 clean power mission and to the energy security goals of the Scottish and UK governments.
If fully delivered, Berwick Bank would be capable of generating enough clean energy to power more than 6M homes annually, according to SSE Renewables.