The Highland Council has given its backing to offshore plans from the West of Orkney Windfarm, part of a multi-billion pound 2GW offshore wind power plant.
A joint venture between Corio Generation, TotalEnergies, and Renewable Infrastructure Development Group, West of Orkney Windfarm submitted its offshore consent application in October 2023. It was the first ScotWind project to submit an offshore consent application to Scottish ministers.
It received ScotWind leasing rights in the first offshore wind leasing round within Scottish waters for a decade, at which time it also secured development rights for an area of seabed from The Crown Estate Scotland.
In June last year, the council approved the project’s onshore application for planning permission in principle and, following its backing of the offshore plans, final decision on the offshore consent will be made by Scottish ministers, which sought the Highland Council’s view on the plans.
West of Orkney Windfarm development manager Jack Farnham called the Highland Council’s backing “another important milestone”, commenting that if full offshore consent were granted it would enable to firm to enter the upcoming contracts for difference auction round (CfD AR7)—”a vital step in the advancement of both the project and its supply chain”.
The offshore consent submission includes applications for consent under the Electricity Act 1989, which the UK government promised to modernise in a package of reforms that will be delivered through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Set to be located 50km north west of Thurso and about 30km off the west of Orkney, the 2GW development, if approved, will comprise up to 125 turbines on fixed foundations and is aiming to be operational by 2031. The developer has identified a port at Scrabster, near Thurso, as a potential servicing base for the site and the infrastructure needed to link the farm with the mainland’s electricity grid would be constructed on the Highland coast.
Farnham said: “The West of Orkney Windfarm is a major energy infrastructure scheme which can bring significant long-term economic benefits to the north of Scotland and beyond. We will continue to work on achieving the critical remaining project milestones in order to generate clean power by 2030.”
