SSE Moving Forward With Major Scottish Offshore Wind Farm

Scottish energy giant SSE said it has government approval to develop an offshore wind farm that at present would be the largest such installation in the world.

The multinational company on July 31 said it received consent from Scottish energy ministers for the 4.1-GW Berwick Bank project in the outer Firth of Forth off the East Lothian coast. The installation, which has been in development for about a decade, had been delayed due to concerns about its impact on seabirds.

Officials have said Berwick Bank is a critical project to advance the UK’s goal of power grid decarbonization by 2030. Energy analysts have said the installation also should provide a mechanism to lower the price of power in the UK.

“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,” said Kate Forbes, deputy first minister, in a statement. “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.”

SSE officials said they will bid in an upcoming government auction that would support renewable energy projects. The company said a win in that auction would mean it could sell power at fixed prices for at least a 20-year period. SSE also said Berwick Bank would have an economic impact of £8.3 billion ($10.98 billion) and create 9,300 jobs.

“As the UK’s clean energy champion, SSE now looks forward to the UK government delivering the most ambitious CfD [Contracts for Difference] scheme yet through the upcoming AR7 auction round. 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,” said Stephen Wheeler, managing director of SSE Renewables.

SSE has built offshore wind projects for more than two decades, beginning with the 25-MW Arklow Bank project in the Irish Sea. The company operates more than 2.5 GW of installed offshore wind generation capacity in waters off the UK and Ireland. It currently is leading construction of the 3.6-GW Dogger Bank wind farm, which currently would be the world’s largest offshore wind installation.

—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.