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Wind industry welcomes major approvals for new wind farms off and on shore

August 8, 2008

BWEA, the UK's leading renewable energy business body, today welcomed the announcement that BERR has approved two major new wind farms.

The 315MW offshore wind farm, Sherringham Shoal will be situated 12 miles off the Norfolk coast and is being developed by Norwegian utility company StatoilHydro and Dutch energy company Evelop. When fully operational the wind farm will have 88 turbines and will power some 220,000 homes. It is expected to be operational by 2011. It is the fourth largest offshore wind farm approved in the UK. BERR has also approved the 75MW, 18 turbine Middlemoor wind farm proposals near Alnwick, Northumberland being developed by Npower Renewables, which will power over 27,000 homes.

Maria McCaffery MBE, BWEA Chief Executive said "This is fantastic news, this is a major step forward for both the wind industry and a major step towards delivering the 2020 renewable energy targets. These decisions show that with patience, determination and co-operation it is possible to overcome difficult technical issues and win planning permission".

Both applications were subject to a Ministry of Defence objection due to concerns that the proposed wind farm would interfere with defence radar. The approvals are conditional on a technical solution being reached within 5 years. These are the first major applications to see a MoD objection withdrawn following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the wind industry and Defence officials in May this year.

More info:

Charles Anglin, BWEA Communications Director charles@bwea.com 020 7689 1966 0774 002 3641

Notes to editors

The British Wind Energy Association is the trade and professional body for the UK wind and marine renewables industries. Formed in 1978, and with 413 corporate members, BWEA is the leading renewable energy trade association in the UK. Wind has been the world's fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue with falling costs of wind energy and the urgent international need to tackle CO2 emissions to prevent climate change.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on the 13th June. This identifies the structure for how BWEA, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Department of Transport, NATS En Route, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Defence will work together in addressing issues. The MOU encompasses an Aviation Plan, which a newly set up Aviation Management Board of senior representatives from each stakeholder has overall responsibility of. The Board is guided by an Aviation Advisory Panel, made up of radar experts from each party of the MOU, which makes recommendations on the prioritisation of mitigation activities.