Scottish and Southern Energy, through its renewable energy development division Airtricity, has been granted exclusivity by The Crown Estate to develop offshore wind farms in Scottish territorial waters at Beatrice, Bell Rock, Islay and Kintyre.
According to the company, the proposed wind farms could have a total capacity of up to 2,700MW. Their development is subject to site-specific consultations and environmental impact assessments, statutory consents and the satisfactory completion of the strategic environmental assessment for offshore wind announced by the Scottish government in October 2008.
At two of the four sites, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), is in partnership with other specialist developers. SSE said that it is also seeking to play a key role in The Crown Estate’s plans for a third round of offshore wind farm developments in zones off the coast of the UK.
SSE has already started construction work related to the development in the outer Thames Estuary of Greater Gabbard, a joint venture with RWE Innogy which, on completion, will have a capacity of 500MW.
Furthermore, it also has consent to develop offshore wind farms at Arklow (Ireland), Butendiek (Germany) and West Rijn (Netherlands) with a total capacity of over 1,000MW and continues to pursue other options for offshore wind farm development in northern Europe.
