Consultation opens on plans to build one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world off the Welsh coast
Developers EnBW and BP have opened a first round of public consultations on the Mona offshore windfarm planned for a site 15 miles off the Welsh coast.
Mona forms one half of a pair of wind farms – the other has been named Morgan – that together will form one of the largest wind farms in the world, with a combined potential generating capacity of 3GW.
Consultation on Morgan is scheduled to take place later this year.
The purpose of the consultation is to share early plans for the project, while providing people with the opportunity to have their say on the proposals, which if approved could see the windfarms operating by 2029.
Early stage
Planning for the project is currently at a very early stage and many details are still to be finalised, such as the size and number of turbines, offshore and onshore infrastructure and the cable landfall locations.
BP Project Director, Richard Haydock said: “Morgan and Mona mark BP’s entry into one of the world’s busiest offshore wind markets and I’m absolutely committed to making sure we deliver both projects in a way that works for people that live and work in the areas where they are located.
“Securing sources of low carbon, home grown energy is vitally important, of course, but our projects are also about us investing in the people, businesses, and communities across north Wales and north west England.
“Although the project is at an early stage, this is a fantastic opportunity for people to find out more about our plans and help shape our early thinking.”
Sustainable energy
EnBW project director, Céline Combé added: “The Mona and Morgan projects in the Irish Sea are among the largest developments for EnBW, and we are proud to further contribute significantly to a sustainable energy future with our activities in the UK.
“Based on our long experience in the offshore wind market, we understand the complexities of the development process and importance of early stakeholder engagement and good dialogue. We are encouraging the local communities to get to know us and look forward to working together in making the projects become a reality.”
The consultation is running for eight weeks, from 7 June to 3 August 2022, with public exhibitions taking place across the north of Wales.
This is the first of two planned consultations on Mona.
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Excellent news. Let’s make Wales the part of the UK that actually gets things built.
At long last, the first of the big wind farms in the Irish Sea. Let’s have several more to follow
What is going on. Who will benefit from this. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for sustainability and wind power etc, but we already only use half of the energy we produce, and there are plans for nuclear power stations to be built as well. We consume 14.7 TWh while we generate 27.9 TWh. To who, or where is all this going, as at present we gain nothing from the power we generate. We could do so much if it was for our benefit, and we could sell it, but I doubt it is.
Free Wales? Free electricity? Free water?
Why not?
Taking the unit prices back down to where they were say 5 years ago would be a very welcome start ! The antics of the last 9 months or so are horrific and UK gov has stood by and let it rip.