UK Planning Inspectorate has completed the examination of the development consent order (DCO) applications submitted by a joint venture between BP and EnBW for Morgan and Mona offshore wind farms.
The examination period for the 1.5 GW Mona project closed on 16 January with the Examining Authority having until 6 April to write its report and make a recommendation to the Secretary of State. For the 1.5 GW Morgan offshore wind farm, the examination period closed on 10 March and the recommendation to the Secretary of State is expected to be submitted by 10 June.
After receiving each of the recommendations from the Examining Authority, the Secretary of State will have three months in which to make a decision.
The Morgan and Mona offshore wind farms are proposed to be built at two sites located in the Irish Sea, approximately 22-37 kilometres from the UK coast, covering a combined area of approximately 580 square kilometres.
The BP-EnBW joint venture secured leases for the two project sites in the UK Round 4 leasing at the beginning of 2021. A year later, the developers received electricity generation licences for Morgan and Mona.
The developers are set to soon start a new offshore geotechnical survey at the two offshore wind farm sites.
According to a Notice to Mariners from the project team, the survey will begin on or around 28 March and is expected to be completed by 30 September.
The vessel used for the work will be Gardline’s Horizon Geodrill which will be carrying out drilling, sampling and coring of boreholes within the Morgan and Mona array sites.
The vessel will be stationary at each borehole location for one to three days, depending on borehole depth, to allow the samples and cores to be taken from the seabed, according to the marine update.