Scottish First Minister John Swinney has called on offshore wind developers to make their project applications robust to ensure swift progress through the approval process.
Speaking at the Floating Offshore Wind conference, Swinney said: “The stronger the applications, the better developed they are, the more they address the sensitives that all of us know we have to look at, the more efficient and effective decisions we can take and the more timely we can take those.”
He said that government authorities must focus on meeting their regulatory requirements.
“There’s been a big increase in the consenting capacity of the government because we’re obviously dealing with a much larger range of opportunities than was the case two, three, five years ago, so that requires us to increase our resources and that’s been undertaken and very welcome,” he added.
The 4.1GW Berwick Bank wind farm, which is being developed by SSE Renewables, fell victim to the slow approval process earlier this year.
The project missed the deadline to enter allocation round 6 (AR6) to receive a contract for difference (CfD) as it had not made sufficient progress since submitting plans in 2022 to qualify.
Without a CfD, the project will be unable to secure the investment and contractors needed to bring the wind farm to fruition.
“The symmetry between planning, consenting decisions, and the path to investment is critical to secure investor confidence to then secure the investments that are necessary within individual projects,” Swinney noted.
Small business minister Richard Lochhead previously said that the Scottish government will work with SSE Renewables to progress the project.
However, a final decision is still pending.
Swinney told Energy Voice: “I want us to make sure we have an efficient and effective method of consenting because I appreciate that time is significant in the decision making particularly when it comes to securing investment.
“The Scottish Government has increased the resources that we have available to determine consenting decisions of this type.”
He added: “I am confident the Scottish government is focused on having an efficient and dynamic consenting regime that responds to the needs of the market and that enables decisions to be taken in an orderly and proper and well-considered fashion to enable development to take its course.”
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