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The decision by Scottish Ministers is a major milestone for the 2-GW offshore wind project, following a recommendation by the government鈥檚 Marine Directorate Licensing Operations Team, and makes the West of Orkney Windfarm the first ScotWind project to secure both onshore planning permission and offshore consent.

The windfarm, which is being developed by a partnership of Corio Generation, TotalEnergies and Renewables Infrastructure Development Group, is 30 km west of the Orkney mainland and 25 km north of the Sutherland coast with up to 125 turbines on fixed foundations.

West of Orkney project director Stuart Macauley said, 鈥淭he West of Orkney Windfarm has the potential to deliver enough renewable electricity to power around 2M homes. Its construction would spark significant investment in Scotland鈥檚 supply chain, port and harbour infrastructure, and the skilled jobs that would follow.

鈥淲e would like to thank the Scottish government, their officials and all of the stakeholders and suppliers who have worked with us so proactively to make this happen. This underlines a clear commitment by industry and government to work together on growing an offshore wind industry in Scotland.

鈥淟ike many projects in Scotland and the UK, we and our investors are focused on working with government to achieve the certainty required on key regulatory areas such as transmission charging, electricity market reform and the rules for future CfD auction rounds. Gaining clarity on these points will be crucial for investors to fully understand the economic case for progressing into construction and operation.

鈥淭he UK government has set out ambitious decarbonisation goals for 2030 and beyond, and our pioneering windfarm, backed by major international investors, can deliver jobs, inward investment and make a significant contribution to the energy transition in Scotland.鈥�

The Highland Council approved in principle the project鈥檚 application for onshore planning permission 鈥� covering the underground cables and electrical infrastructure required to connect the windfarm to the national transmission network in Caithness 鈥� in June 2024. In March of this year, the council indicated it would raise no objection to the offshore planning application submitted to Scottish Ministers.

The offshore consent submission included applications for consent under the Electricity Act 1989 and marine licence applications under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. Accompanying these is an extensive suite of assessments based on survey data collected over 2.5 years.