The Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Grant Shapps has delayed making a final consent decision for Orsted’s 2.6GW Hornsea 4 wind farm until 12 July 2023.
The energy minister was originally due to issue a call on 22 February, but has pushed this back to allow the Department to seek further information from the developer about proposed wildlife compensation measures for the project.
This delay raises questions about whether Hornsea 4 will be able to participate in this year’s Contracts for Difference auction, which is expected to get underway in March.
A statement confirming the new deadline for the decision was made to the House of Commons and House of Lords yesterday (8 February) by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Lord Callanan.
The statement said: “A decision has been made to set a new deadline of no later than 12 July 2023 for deciding this application.
“This is to enable my Department to seek further information from the Applicant and to ensure there is sufficient time to allow for consideration of this information by other interested parties.
“The decision to set the new deadline for this application is without prejudice to the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent.”
Shapps has asked Orsted to provide more details on its wildlife compensation proposals for protected seabird species along the east English coast.
These include plans to implement a predator eradication scheme and to repurpose an existing oil and gas platform in the North Sea as an artificial nesting structure for kittiwakes.
Natural England has also been asked to provide comments on the adequacy of these proposed compensation measures as well as Orsted’s methods for assessing adverse impacts on seabirds.