New win for Scottish offshore wind in fight with RSPB

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has not succeeded in its latest attempt to attack consent for the 450-MW Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind project in Scotland, developer Mainstream Renewable Power said today.

The Irish company now expects work on the wind farm to begin in 2018.

The Inner House of the Court of Session in Scotland has turned down an application by the RSPB to appeal to the Supreme Court a previous decision in favour of offshore wind development in the firths of Forth and Tay. The conservation charity has 28 days to decide whether to apply directly to the UK Supreme Court.

Andy Kinsella, COO at Mainstream, said that the advances in offshore wind technology have allowed the company to cut the number of turbines for the planned offshore wind farm to no more than 64, as compared to 125 in the original application from 2012. “We are delighted with the decision and look forward to working constructively with the RSPB to take the wind farm into construction next year,” he said.

In May the Inner House of the Court of Session upheld the Scottish government’s consent for four offshore wind projects. The list includes Neart na Gaoithe, the 784-MW Inch Cape, and the Seagreen Alpha and Seagreen Bravo schemes. The developer of the latter two, Seagreen Wind Energy Ltd, has proposed key design changes as it also seeks to use fewer turbines, of up to 15 MW each.

The projects got development consents back in 2014, but in January 2015 RSPB Scotland challenged the Scottish government’s decision to approve them. The Outer House of the Court of Session in July 2016 ruled that there were flaws in the approval process for the projects, but Scottish Ministers were successful in their appeal against that decision, in May 2017.

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