Thursday 13 July 2023 12:30 pm

UK’s second largest offshore wind farm given the green light

By: Nicholas Earl

One of the UK’s biggest offshore wind farms with the potential to power over 1m homes has finally been given the go-ahead by government – two years after a planning application was first made by Orsted.

Hornsea Four is the second largest project to gain consent in British waters, after energy security secretary Grant Shapps rubber stamped the mooted development, which will involve over 180 turbines planted 43 miles off the coast of Yorkshire.

Danish energy giant Orsted will own and operate the wind farm, alongside the three other Hornsea sites.

Generating 2.6GW of power – more than one of Hinkley Point C’s nuclear reactors – the government hopes the project will push the UK towards meeting its 50GW goal for offshore wind power by the end of the decade.

The region is one of the government’s key focal points for driving renewable energy, with Hornsea Three the biggest UK offshore project to be approved to date with 2.9GW of power.

Currently the largest operational offshore wind farm in UK waters, Hornsea Two (1.4GW) was fully commissioned last August, while Hornsea One (1.2GW) has been operating since 2020.

However, Hornsea’s approval process also exposes the long duration times energy firms must face before consent is given to renewable projects.

Planning problems plague offshore wind farms

Orsted first submitted an application to the planning inspectorate in September 2021, and was recommended to the secretary of state after a six-month examination last November.

A decision was expected in February, but this was pushed back five months amid concerns its footprint on the sea floor overlapped a BP-led carbon capture project, raising the perceived risk of boats monitoring carbon leaks colliding with turbines.

A spokesperson for Orsted said: “Climate change remains a very serious threat to our environment and habitats and there is an ever pressing need to act. We must accelerate the build-out of renewable energy if we are to meet our global climate goals and net-zero targets, as well as ensuring projects deliver long-term value.”

The Planning Inspectorate has examined over 100 significant infrastructure projects since the Planning Act in 2008, and defended its process when commenting on the new wind farm.

Paul Morrison, chief executive, said: “Local communities continue to be given the opportunity of being involved in the examination of projects that may affect them. Local people, the local authority and other interested parties were able to participate in this six-month examination.

“The examining authority listened and gave full consideration to all local views and the evidence gathered during the examination before making its recommendation to the secretary of state.”

Trade association Renewable UK called on the government to speed up approvals for new projects.

Ana Musat, executive director of policy at Renewable UK, said: “It’s great to see one of the UK’s largest offshore wind farms getting the green light from the government, at a time when we urgently need to get cracking on building new clean energy projects to generate the cheapest power for billpayers and enable us to bolster domestic supply chains.

The government has been approached for comment.