The Secretary of State has said the decision on whether to award development consent to the Hornsea 4 offshore wind farm has been delayed by four months. A new deadline to make a decision on this application which is 12 July 2023. National Infrastructure Planning sent a Recommendation Report to the Secretary of State on 22 November 2022 and the original deadline for a decision was 9 March.
Ørsted is developing the Hornsea 4 wind farm in the North Sea, 69km off the Yorkshire Coast.
RenewableUK executive director of policy Ana Musat said: “… it will now take longer to meet our renewables targets. This landmark offshore wind project has the potential to supply an enormous 2.6GW of clean electricity to the grid, displacing expensive gas, reducing bills and boosting our energy security.”
She added, “This decision clearly shows that government needs to reform our cumbersome planning system urgently to ensure that renewable energy projects are not subject to needless delays. Due to unclear guidance to planning authorities, no offshore wind project wind since 2017 has been recommended for approval by the Planning Inspectorate. All 6GW of these projects were delayed until the Secretary of State reviewed them to confirm approval”.