Decision on Norfolk Boreas DCO Application Postponed Until December

The deadline for a decision on the Development Consent Order (DCO) application for Vattenfall’s 1.8 GW Norfolk Boreas offshore wind project in the UK has been pushed back to 10 December.

The deadline for the decision on the project’s application was initially set for 12 April. However, last month the UK Planning Inspectorate announced that the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) would set a new deadline and issue a statement confirming the date in due course.

The delay on Norfolk Boreas’s DCO decision follows the UK High Court’s quashing of the DCO decision for Vattenfall’s second project off Norfolk, the 1.8 GW Norfolk Vanguard, in February. The Judicial Review for the project cited cumulative impacts of Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas on Necton, where the onshore infrastructure for the wind farms would be built.

According to the statement on re-setting the DCO deadline for Norfolk Boreas from 12 May, the postponement will allow an opportunity for further information in respect of cumulative impacts of the onshore substation and of offshore environmental effects to be provided and considered.

Norfolk Vanguard would be located more than 47 kilometres from the Norfolk Coast, adjacent to the proposed development area for the Norfolk Boreas which is located approximately 72 kilometres from shore at its nearest point.

Each project would feature between 90 and 180 wind turbines with a minimum individual capacity of 10 MW.

The wind farms are scheduled to be operational by mid-2020s.