Scotland Greenlights SSE’s 4.1 GW Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm

The Scottish government has granted a consent order for SSE Renewables’ Berwick Bank in the UK, which, if fully developed, would become the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

The Section 36 consent determination by Scottish ministers approves the project’s main offshore wind array in the outer Firth of Forth off the East Lothian coast.

The decision represents the last major consent necessary for the wind farm to proceed and is the culmination of more than a decade of development work by SSE Renewables on the project’s design, according to the developer.

Delivery of Berwick Bank will now be subject to SSE securing a contract for new low-carbon offshore wind power under the UK’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, as well as reaching a final investment decision.

“The Scottish Government’s decision to grant a consent order for Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm is hugely welcome. At over 4GW of potential capacity, Berwick Bank can play a pivotal role in meeting the mission of Clean Power 2030 for the UK and achieving Scotland’s decarbonisation and climate action goals,” said Stephen Wheeler, Managing Director of SSE Renewables.

“As the UK’s clean energy champion, SSE now looks forward to the UK Government delivering the most ambitious CfD scheme yet through the upcoming AR7 auction round.”

The Berwick Bank project is planned to be built in the outer Firth of Forth and Firth of Tay, approximately 38 kilometres east of the Scottish Borders coastline at St. Abb’s Head and 48 kilometres off the East Lothian coastline.

The offshore wind farm array would comprise up to 307 turbines installed across a 1,010-square-kilometre site. Each turbine would be installed on a fixed-bottom foundation.

Berwick Bank would also comprise up to ten offshore substations, as well as associated export and inter-array cables that would export renewable energy from the project to landfall.

The wind farm would connect to the UK national grid via two connection points, one at Branxton near Dunbar in East Lothian in Scotland and another at Cambois near Blyth in Northumberland in northeast England. 

Berwick Bank has the potential to create 9,300 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in the UK at peak construction, with around 4,650 of these jobs in Scotland, said SSE. Over the project’s expected lifetime, it is estimated Berwick Bank could inject GBP 8.3 billion of value into the UK economy, the developer added.

If fully delivered, the project would become the world’s largest offshore wind farm, capable of generating enough renewable energy to power more than six million homes annually, according to SSE.

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