SSE and Fluor yesterday submitted plans to the Scottish Government for two large offshore wind farms in the Firth of Forth totalling over 1 GW of capacity.
Back in 2009, SSE Renewables and Fluor formed a joint venture Seagreen, which was granted the development rights to the site 25 km east of Fife by The Crown Estate as part of the Round 3 offshore wind farm development programme.
The initial plans, which are open to the public for viewing until December 7, will see two separate 525 MW, 75-tubrine offshore wind farms, Project Alpha and Project Bravo, constructed 27 km and 38 km, respectively, from the Angus coastline.
The site has the potential for a total capacity of up to 3.5 GW, but SSE and Fluor plan to split development into three phases. Phase 1 will focus on the northern area of the zone, followed by phases 2 and 3, which will develop the central and southern areas.
“We believe that both of these offshore wind farms are fantastic projects which have the potential to have a lasting positive impact on the local economy,” says Fluor’s director of renewable business development, Graham Mason.
The developments will also make a significant contribution to Scotland and the UK’s 2020 renewables targets, adds Richard Escott, who heads offshore development at SSE Renewables.
But in Wales, a public inquiry into five onshore wind farms in Powys is to be held after the local county council objected to the plans.
The plans for CeltPower’s 126 MW Llandinam and 66.7 MW Fferm Wynt Llaithddu Cyf’s Llaithddu wind farms, RES UK Ireland’s 100 MW Llanbrynmair scheme, Vattenfall’s 59.5MW Llanbadarn Fynydd project and RWE npower renewable’s 130-250 MW Carnedd Wen scheme will now be considered later next year.
“The government has decided that evidence on the benefits and impacts of these proposals is best considered at a joint public inquiry for all five applications,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Climate Change yesterday. “This will provide an opportunity for all of the evidence to be independently examined by an inspector from the Welsh Planning Inspectorate before a final decision is taken.”
For further information:
www.sse.com/
www.fluor.com/
www.seagreenwindenergy.com/
Related stories:
World’s largest wind farm opens for business (15-Jun)
SSE gets go ahead for offshore wind turbine test site (20-Feb)
Alstom and SSE Renewables join forces on Orkney wave farm (17-Jan)
Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5482/
