Celtic Array, a partnership between Centrica and Dong Energy looking to develop a huge wind farm in the Irish Sea, has pulled out of the project.
The proposed 2.2GW Rhiannon wind farm, 12 miles off the coast of Anglesey, was going to power 1.5million homes with low carbon electricity from its 440 turbines.
But Celtic Array today announced the proposed area in the Irish Sea was “economically unviable” due to “challenging ground conditions”.
The Crown Estate has also announced that it has agreed to the partnership’s request to end its offshore wind zone agreement for the Round 3 Irish Sea Zone.
“Although it’s disappointing that this particular project isn’t going ahead, the reasons are understandable – conditions on the sea bed would make the project economically unviable at this stage,” said Nick Medic, directo of offshore renewables at RenewableUK.
“However, let’s not forget that one of the Celtic Array partners, DONG Energy, already has a healthy pipeline of seven offshore wind farms up and running in UK waters, another two under construction, a further project approved and three others in the final stages of gaining consent.
“Overall we still have over 37GW of offshore wind capacity in the UK’s project pipeline, so we’re set to maintain our huge global lead in offshore wind, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the decades ahead to add to the 13,000 we have already.
“Offshore wind is already powering the equivalent of two and a half million British homes and that’s set to more than treble by the end of the decade, providing a secure supply of clean energy at a cost which is reducing constantly through economies of scale”.
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