𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

An offshore wind farm which developers say could be the world’s biggest has been approved by the Scottish Government.

Berwick Bank – proposed to be built off the coast of East Lothian – aims to deliver 4.1 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, which is believed to be enough to power every home in Scotland twice over and around 17% of the homes in the UK.

The development will feature up to 307 turbines and have two connection points to the grid – one in Dunbar, East Lothian, and another in Blyth, Northumberland.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes welcomed the approval, saying the Government had given the application “extremely careful consideration”.

She said: “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 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.”

Developers SSE Renewables will have to provide a plan to counter any impact the wind farm may have on seabirds to be approved by ministers.

UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the announcement means there have been enough wind farms approved in the UK to meet the Government’s ambition of delivering clean power by 2030.

“We welcome this decision, which puts us within touching distance of our offshore wind targets to deliver clean power by 2030 – boosting our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower,” he said.

“We need to take back control of our energy and more offshore wind getting the green light marks a huge step forward in Britain’s energy security and getting bills down for good.

“But we know there’s a lot more work to do and we must go further and faster to get us off the rollercoaster of fossil fuels and make working people better off with clean, homegrown, secure power as part of our Plan for Change.”

The UK Government aims to have between 43 and 50GW of energy capacity in offshore wind by the end of the decade, with 15.9GW currently online and a further 28GW having received consent.

Stephen Wheeler, the managing director of SSE Renewables, said news of the approval is “hugely welcome”.

He added: “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.

“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.”

But the National Trust for Scotland said the news was “deeply disappointing”, fearing there will be “significant harm” caused to seabird colonies at the nearby St Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve.

“As we observed in our submission, the proposed mitigations by the developers fell far short of alleviating the expected impacts in terms of fatalities and disruption.

“Indeed, the Scottish Government’s own chief scientific adviser marine and a review panel drawn from the Scottish Science Advisory Council came to the same conclusion.

“We look forward to hearing more about the detailed seabird compensation plan, that is a condition of the approval, as soon as this available.

“If this is not adequate – and it needs to be a major improvement on what is currently proposed – then the development should not proceed.

“At the National Trust for Scotland we are supportive of the drive towards renewable energy, but not at the expense of the very nature and habitats this effort is supposed to help save in the face of climate change.”

Meanwhile, RSPB Scotland – the country’s leading bird charity – said it was a “very dark day for seabirds”.

The charity’s director Anne McCall said: “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 wind farms significantly higher.

“This one wind farm is going to make it really challenging to accelerate renewable projects across Scottish seas.

“We are incredibly concerned that the Scottish Government has granted consent for a project which could catapult some of Scotland’s most-loved seabird species towards extinction.”