The Moray West offshore wind development has been granted marine consent by the Scottish government, clearing the way for the 800MW+ North Sea project to enter the UK’s upcoming Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction.
The wind farm in the outer Moray Firth, being developed by Portugal’s EDPR and France’s Engie – which last month formed a joint venture for the global offshore market, could move into construction as early as 2022, should it win capacity in this summer's tender.
“This is one or the most significant pre-construction milestones in the development of any project, and I would like to thank all of the communities, individuals and organisations who have engaged with us as part of the process, allowing us to secure a consent within the challenging CfD timescale,” said Moray Offshore Renewables director Dan Finch.
“We look forward to working with the local economy as we enter the auction which will establish Moray West as the next high-capacity, low-cost, low-carbon generation project in Scotland. The project will also be a major step towards the strengthened target in the revised Scottish Climate Change Bill of net zero carbon emissions by 2045.”
Development of Moray West, to be built around 87 turbines some 22km off Scotland, would follow on from that of EDPR-Engie’s £2.6bn ($3.3bn) Moray East project, which was granted consent in 2014, won a CfD in 2017 with a record-setting low bid of £57.5/MWh, and is currently in construction using 100 MHI Vestas 9.5MW wind turbines.
“Moray West follows hot on the heels of Moray East, which will supply power to the grid at less than half the price of offshore wind farms installed to date. Moray West is a vital part of the pipeline of projects necessary to support investment in the UK supply chain, making it competitive on a global basis,” added Finch.
The UK foresees getting at least one-third of all its electricity from offshore wind by 2030, having finalised a ‘sector deal’ earlier this year that aims at having 30GW installed by this date.
