The Welsh government has granted Section 36 consent to the Llŷr Wind Farm, a floating wind test and demonstration project being developed by Cierco Energy in the Celtic Sea off Pembrokeshire.
Llŷr was one of two projects selected in the Crown Estate’s 2021 leasing opportunity for early commercial-scale floating wind projects in the Celtic Sea, and consists of two 100 MW wind farms, Llŷr 1 and Llŷr 2.
The project was granted a marine licence from Natural Resources Wales in June and entered an Agreement for Lease with the Crown Estate in July.
Section 36 consent, now granted by Welsh Ministers, covers the electricity-generating station and is required to build and operate an offshore wind farm, alongside a marine licence, which is required for placing infrastructure on the seabed.
The Welsh government said around 2,000 jobs are expected to be created during Llŷr construction, with additional skilled employment anticipated once the project is operational.
The Llŷr sites are located approximately 40 kilometres off the Pembrokeshire coast at water depths averaging 60-70 metres. Each of the two floating wind farms will comprise six to eight wind turbines and are expected to use two different types of floating wind foundations, according to information about the projects shared earlier.
In July last year, Cierco Energy signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Marine Power Systems (MPS) on potentially deploying MPS PelaFlex technology at one of the Llŷr demonstration sites.
Llŷr is planned to produce first power in 2031.
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