Global wind and solar company Mainstream Renewable Power notes the decision of the Inner House of the Court of Session in favour of Scottish Ministers in their appeal against the decision of the Outer House in a petition by the RSPB to review the consent of four offshore wind farms.
The 450MW Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm, under development by Mainstream Renewable Power, is one of the projects whose consent was challenged by the RSPB.
David Sweenie, Mainstream Renewable Power’s Offshore Manager for Scotland said:
“We welcome the ruling of the Inner House of the Court of Session in favour of Scottish Ministers, overturning last year’s decision by Lord Stewart. This £2bn project is capable of supplying all the homes in a city the size of Edinburgh with clean energy. It will create over 500 jobs during construction and over 100 permanent jobs once operational. More than £540 million will be directly invested in Scotland during the construction phase and a further £610m during the operational phase.
“As a nationally-significant infrastructure project, Neart na Gaoithe will help Scotland and the UK meet their climate and energy goals, and develop a world-leading offshore wind sector. We have worked closely with a range of partners on the project, including the RSPB and we look forward to continuing to do so as we take the development forward.
“Rapid advances in offshore wind technology have enabled us to reduce the number of turbines to be installed from 125 in the original consent application in 2012, to a maximum of 64 turbines today.
“This is a major step forward for Neart na Gaoithe, which is the only project out of the four offshore wind projects in the Forth and Tay to hold a Contract for Difference (CfD). We plan to move quickly with all our partners to bring this project to construction, and deliver the vitally important jobs and investment that it will create.”
Ends
Notes to Editors:
- The NnG site is located in the outer Firth of Forth
- The closest turbine will be 15.8 kilometres from the shore
- The NnG site is approximately 105 square kilometres, with the turbines sited in water depths of 45-55 metres