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Scottish ministers have approved an application to boost the capacity of the Seagreen offshore wind farm by 140MW.
The array, located 27 kilometres off the coast of Angus in the North Sea, will be Scotland’s largest and the world’s deepest fixed foundation offshore wind farm.
The project is being developed by a joint venture between SSE Renewables (49%) and Total Energies (51%). Construction is already underway on 114 of the 150 turbines that had already been consented, with the project achieving first power in August.
The company submitted a Section 36C application to Marine Scotland in May to vary the existing consent to increase the size of the remaining 36 turbines to allow it to take advantage of the latest developments in turbine technology. It has now received permission to boost the capacity of these turbines from 360MW to 500MW, taking the overall capacity of the wind farm to more than 1.5GW.
The decision comes after National Grid agreed last year to increase the size of the grid connection for the remaining turbines, which will come ashore at Cockenzie, to 500MW.
Seagreen project director John Hill said: “We welcome the swift decision from Scottish ministers and this consent ensures we can maximise the renewable energy potential of the 36 consented turbines that will eventually connect into Cockenzie.
“Seagreen, Scotland’s largest and the world’s deepest fixed based offshore wind farm, will help Scotland to reach a net-zero carbon future and the project will now be able to capture more wind to produce more renewable energy.”
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