Oil and gas supermajor BP has confirmed the names of its planned new offshore wind projects in the Irish Sea.
Developed in partnership with Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW), of Germany, Morgan and Mona will have a combined potential generating capacity of 3 gigawatts (GW) – enough to power 3.4 million homes.
In addition to announcing the names of the two projects, BP has also launched a dedicated supplier portal for the developments.
UK-based suppliers are being encouraged to register their interest, particularly those with connections across North Wales and the north-west of England.
In February, a partnership of BP and EnBW was jointly selected as the preferred bidder for the two leases in the Irish Sea.
At a cost of £900 million, the land was allocated as part of the UK Offshore Wind Round 4, the first of its kind since 2010.
The award marked BP’s entry into the UK’s offshore wind power sector, currently the largest in the world.
BP is also planning to bid in the ongoing ScotWind offshore leasing round, which closes on Friday.
EnBW currently has onshore wind assets in Germany, France and Sweden and operates four offshore wind assets in the German Baltic Sea and North Sea.
Morgan and Mona were previously referred to as lease areas 1 and 2, or Yellow North and Yellow South.
They are approximately 300km² and 500km² in size respectively, are located approximately 30km from the coast and in average water depths of around 35m.
Burkhard Roemhild, EnBW project director, said: “We were inspired by the location of these two offshore wind developments and their connection to the region. Morgan means “sea chief” in Old Welsh, and Mona relates to Ynys Môn, the Welsh name for the Isle of Anglesey.W
Richard Haydock, BP project director, added: “These leases will play a critical role in helping deliver the UK government’s aim of producing enough offshore wind to power every UK home, quadrupling the country’s generating capacity to 40GW by 2030.
“We think it’s incredibly important the local supply chain contributes to that, so have today launched a dedicated supplier portal where local companies can pair their skills with the projects’ needs. The portal provides access for companies of all sizes to register their interest for future work.”
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