Welsh Offshore Wind Project Awaiting Development Consent Decision

June 21, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

The UK Planning Inspectorate has now sent a recommendation for the Awel y Môr offshore wind farm application to the Secretary of State, a little over a year after RWE applied for development consent and three months after the Inspectorate completed its examination.

With the Planning Inspectorate’s report and recommendation now in place, the Secretary of State has three months to make a decision on whether to grant the project a Development Consent Order (DCO).

The offshore wind farm, planned to be built off the coast of north Wales, is proposed to have a maximum of 50 turbines that measure up to 332 metres to the tip of the rotor. According to the draft DCO published on 21 March, the project is planned to have an installed generation capacity of over 350 MW.

If built, Awel y Môr would be capable of producing enough electricity to meet the consumption of half a million homes, according to information on the project website.

The offshore wind farm, being developed by RWE (60 per cent), Stadtwerke München (30 per cent) and Siemens Financial Services (10 per cent), is an extension to the existing 576 MW Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm which is providing around 400,000 average UK households with clean electricity each year. 

Awel y Môr is one of the seven extension projects to be awarded a seabed lease agreement by The Crown Estate 2020 and among the four that are developed by RWE with its partners.

If granted a DCO, the new offshore wind farm would be built approximately 10.5 kilometres to the west of Gwynt y Môr wind farm, with its grid connection planned to reach the shoreline between Rhyl and Prestatyn.