SSE Renewables’ Berwick Bank wind farm, which is set to create “nearly 5,000 jobs”, has not received Scottish government approval ahead of the CfD deadline.
The plans for the development off East Lothian are still on the desk on the government’s desk as the deadline for the Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction round has already passed by.
The CfD system is needed to secure contractor work to bring a wind farm to fruition.
CfDs are a 15-year private law contract between low-carbon electricity generators and the Low Carbon Contracts Company, a government-owned company manages which manages them at arm’s length.
Contracts are awarded via competitive auctions, known as allocation rounds (AR), in which the lowest priced bids are successful.
In last year’s CfD round no offshore wind projects managed to secure contracts as developers argued the price wasn’t right.
Alex Meredith, project director of SSE Renewables’ Berwick Bank wind farm told Energy Voice last year that his project is set to create “nearly 5,000 jobs.”
“Now, those won’t all be in the technical operational side, that’ll be through the process of delivering the project,” he explained.
Mr Meredith said at the time that Berwick Bank will offer “opportunities all the way through the process for communities that are close to or are within the sphere of the project.”
The failure to approve the 4.1GW project that plans to provide enough electricity to power over 5 million homes comes as the SNP face criticism over its recent climate policy.
Last week it was announced that the Scottish government is set to abandon its ambitious climate target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2030.
Scotland’s target of reaching net zero by 2045 will remain, however, the government could also ditch its annual climate targets.
This will also see the Scottish Government move away from legally-binding annual targets – which it has missed for eight out of 12 years.
North East energy transition leaders have said that the decision is an opportunity for a much-needed “reset”, while others say it is time for a “reality check”.
In 2021, SSE Renewables announced its decision to combine two of its proposed North Sea wind farms in order to create one “super project”.
As a result of this, Berwick Bank and Marr Bank offshore wind farms to form the Berwick Bank project that currently seeks government approval.
Planning applications for the project were submitted to government in 2022.
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