Berwick Bank wind farm misses bid deadline for national grid sale

This is yet more criticism of the Scottish government’s climate change commitments with the massive Berwick Bank project still unsure of its future.

They had been hoping to know by now whether they had consent from ministers who’d said they “aim” to make decisions on these large projects within 12 months. It’s now been 17.

Consent times have become a huge issue for the industry. Another project – GreenVolt – submitted its application a month after Berwick Bank but it has now been given the go-ahead.

Making comparisons is difficult though. Berwick Bank is much larger and is in a more sensitive area of sea close to where RSPB Scotland previously took ministers to court over the impact of turbines on migrating birds.

What this is really about though is targets. Again. This time a pledge to build 11 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. At 4.1GW, Berwick Bank makes up a huge chunk of that.

SSE isn’t saying yet that they can’t be generating by 2030, even with this latest hold-up. But it’s leaving little room for manoeuvre.

The energy giant is now pushing for a decision by the summer, well ahead of the next opportunity to bid for a government contract in 2025