The 2.4GW Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm has been granted construction permission in UK waters after 脴谤蝉迟别诲 convinced the government that the project was necessary to meet its energy ambitions, despite projected bird kills.
On 31 December, UK energy secretary Alok Sharma granted Danish developers 脴谤蝉迟别诲 a consent order for its 231-turbine听2955MW Hornsea Project Three offshore project, in line with recommendations from a panel of examiners.
脴谤蝉迟别诲 acquired the entire Hornsea zone and the project rights from Smart Wind in August 2015, but the project has been delayed several times due to potential threats to England鈥檚 biggest seabird territory off the Yorkshire coast. In particular, the energy secretary was concerned that the 696km2 development could have a 鈥渓ikely significant effect鈥 on the integrity of three EU-protected sites, including the Flamborough and Filey Coast special protection area (SPA).听
In response, 脴谤蝉迟别诲 decided to reduce the number of turbines from around 300 to 231 with a lower rotor tip height and a reduction in total swept area. Following additional ecological information submitted by 脴谤蝉迟别诲, including compensatory schemes to build four artificial nesting towers on land for the birds to roost, the examiners concluded that there would be no adverse effects to the protected kittiwakes within the SPA.听
In his decision letter, Sharma disagreed but backed the project anyway, arguing that the development was in line with the UK鈥檚 national policy for renewable energy infrastructure.
The UK鈥檚 energy secretary said that 鈥渟ubstantial weight鈥 towards meeting the country鈥檚 national need for renewable energy applied and that the project would help go towards the government鈥檚 aspirations to deliver a significant volume of offshore wind in the 2020s.
The UK government has set a target of 40GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030 on a path to 65-125GW by 2050. It has allocated a separate pot to the offshore sector in its forthcoming 12GW contracts for difference auction rounds scheduled for later this year.
To date, the UK has installed 10,429MW of offshore capacity.听脴谤蝉迟别诲 currently owns 29.18 % of the market share, according to 搖錢樹娛樂城 Intelligence, the research and data division of 搖錢樹娛樂城.听
According to the bird charity the RSPB, Hornsea 3's 8MW turbines are expected to kill roughly 73 kittiwakes a year. Martin Harper, the RSPB's director for global conservation described the decision to approve Hornsea 3 as a 鈥済amble with the future of our globally important kittiwakes鈥.听
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