Outer Dowsing begins consultation after passing key milestones
One of the UK’s largest windfarms under development has submitted its scoping report to the Planning Inspectorate
Consultation process to inform project design comes after UK Government approval for The Crown Estate’s Habitats Regulations Assessment process.
The 1.5 GW Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind project is embarking on an extensive consultation exercise with stakeholders, after passing two important milestones in the leasing and environmental consenting process.
Located 54 kilometres off England’s Lincolnshire coast, Outer Dowsing will be one of the UK’s largest offshore wind farms upon completion. The project is being jointly developed by Corio Generation, a wholly-owned Green Investment Group portfolio company, and TotalEnergies.
Following the recent approval by the UK government of The Crown Estate’s Habitats Regulations Assessment process, the Outer Dowsing development team has now submitted a Project Scoping Report to the Planning Inspectorate.
The Planning Inspectorate will now consult widely with statutory stakeholders on the technical proposals before providing a formal Scoping Opinion. The views obtained during the scoping process, together with ongoing surveys, will be used to guide the design and layout of the windfarm and its associated infrastructure, ahead of formal submission for development consent, which is anticipated in late 2023.
Chris Jenner, Development Manager for Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind said: “We’re delighted to reach this important first stage in the planning process and look forward to continuing to work with local communities and other stakeholders as we develop the project plan for Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind.”
Once completed, Outer Dowsing is anticipated to generate enough renewable electricity to be equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 1.6 million households. The project will play a critical role in achieving the UK Government’s ambition to deliver 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050.
The project is expected to avoid the equivalent of nearly 2 million tonnes CO2 emissions for each year of operations. This is the equivalent of removing over 650,000 petrol cars from the road during its operating life.
The Planning Inspectorate will now consult technical statutory consultees for their views on the Scoping Report before issuing their Scoping Opinion.
The Outer Dowsing development team is now organising a number of public information events in Autumn 2022 to seek views from the local community on the project proposals.
The submission of the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Scoping Report, follows approval by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of the Plan Level Habitats Regulation Assessment process, allowing The Crown Estate to proceed with Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4, on the basis of a derogation.