John Swinney approves massive new offshore wind farm days after Donald Trump leaves Scotland
The SNP Government has announced planning approval for a massive new offshore wind farm just days after Donald Trump left Scotland.
Berwick Bank – proposed to be built off the coast of East Lothian - could be one of the largest developments of its kind in the world, according to the firms involved.
The development will feature up to 307 turbines and have two connection points to the grid – one in Dunbar, East Lothian, and another in Blyth, Northumberland. It aims to deliver 4.1 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, which is believed to be enough to power every home in Scotland twice over and around 17 per cent of the homes in the UK.
Kate Forbes, the Deputy First Minister, welcomed the approval, saying the Scottish Government had given the application 'extremely careful consideration'.
The approval comes just 48 hours after the US President flew back to Washington after a long weekend in Scotland. Trump repeatedly tore into wind power when speaking to the press. Speaking alongside Keir Starmer at Turnberry this week, the New Yorker said: "Wind is the most expensive form of energy and it destroys the beauty of your plains and your fields and your waterways.
"Look out there, there's no windmills but if you look in another direction you see windmills, when we go to Aberdeen you'll see some of the ugliest windmills you've ever seen. They're the height of a 50-storey building. And you can take 1,000 times more energy out of a hole in the ground this big, this big, it's called oil and gas."
Trump also voiced his disaproval of wind power to Swinney and Starmer during private meetings.
But the Berwick Bank development was today welcomed by Forbes and the UK Government. The Deputy First Minister said: "The decision to grant consent to Berwick Bank is a major step in Scotland's progress towards achieving net zero and tackling the climate crisis, as well as supporting national energy security and growing our green economy.
"It is also an important decision for Scotland's renewables sector, and this investment will be further built upon through the delivery of Scotland's significant future pipeline of offshore wind projects under the ScotWind and the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas leasing rounds.
'We will continue to work closely with the developer and key stakeholders, including those working in fishing and conservation – to minimise the impact of the development on the marine environment and other marine users – and balance the needs of people and nature.'
Developers SSE Renewables will have to provide a plan to counter any impact the wind farm may have on seabirds to be approved by ministers.
UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the announcement means there have been enough wind farms approved in the UK to meet the Government's ambition of delivering clean power by 2030.
'We welcome this decision, which puts us within touching distance of our offshore wind targets to deliver clean power by 2030 – boosting our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower,' he said.
'We need to take back control of our energy and more offshore wind getting the green light marks a huge step forward in Britain's energy security and getting bills down for good.
'But we know there's a lot more work to do and we must go further and faster to get us off the rollercoaster of fossil fuels and make working people better off with clean, homegrown, secure power as part of our Plan for Change.'
The UK Government aims to have between 43 and 50GW of energy capacity in offshore wind by the end of the decade, with 15.9GW currently online and a further 28GW having received consent.
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