Alok Sharma, secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy yesterday (1 July) approved Vattenfall鈥檚 158-turbine 1380MW Norfolk Vanguard West 听project, 47km off England's east coast, arguing that the company's construction and mitigation commitments would be enough to protect two EU-protected sites from significant adverse harm.
Vattenfall senior vice president Gunnar Groebler said in a statement that the decision 鈥渏ustifies the confidence that we have in the offshore wind sector in Britain.鈥
But environmental concerns remain over 脴rsted鈥檚 231-turbine 2955MW Hornsea Project Three , located 120km east of Trimingham, also in Norfolk.
Under current plants,听Sharma wrote that he was 鈥渘ot able to grant consent to the development at this time鈥, as the project presented an unacceptably high risk of collisions with the protected kittiwake bird in the EU-protected Flamborough and Filey coast special protection area.
However, he added that he would be 鈥渕inded to grant consent鈥 subject to 脴rsted providing 鈥渟ufficient evidence that the said compensatory measures have been secured鈥.听
脴rsted has until the end of September to submit its proposals, before the minister makes his final decision by 31 December.
Last month, Vattenfall鈥檚 340MW project was refused by Sharma due to concerns over commercial shipping routes.
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