The Highland Council’s North Planning committee has decided to raise no objection to the offshore consent application for the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm, a 100-MW project to be located off the coast of Dounreay, Caithness in Scotland, its developer said today.
Councillors’ decision on the project’s onshore application is expected in January 2023. Under the plans, there will be an onshore substation near HMS Vulcan and Dounreay.
The offshore application for the scheme will now be determined by Marine Scotland. If consent is granted, construction could start in 2024 and the facility could be fully operational by 2026.
The developer of the project, Highland Wind Ltd, is majority owned by a fund managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). Hexicon AB is a minority shareholder.
“At all stages of the project we’ve consulted extensively with the local community and made key changes to the final design of the PFOWF to minimise potential visual and other environmental impacts based on feedback from our consultation events,” said project director Richard Copeland.
The project is expected to deliver lifetime expenditure of GBP 419 million (USD 511m/EUR 485m) in the UK.
(GBP 1 = USD 1.219/EUR 1.157)
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