Scottish government ministers have consented a marine licence application covering the offshore elements of the Seagreen 1A project, including a 110km export cable.
Seagreen 1A connects the last 36 of 150 turbines to the grid and the marine licence paves the way for the offshore elements to link the machines to the network at Cockenzie in East Lothian.
East Lothian Council gave unanimous support for the Seagreen 1A onshore proposals in August.
Seagreen is being brought forward by SSE Renewables and TotalEnergies.
All 150 offshore turbines are consented and the first 114 of these have a grid connection into Tealing, Angus, and are currently under construction in the Firth of Forth.
Seagreen lead consents manager Michael Walker said: “The Marine Licence is an important milestone for the Seagreen 1A project and this positive decision by Scottish Ministers underlines the Scottish government’s strong support for renewables and the green recovery.
“We would like to thank all consultees and the local community for their time and input into the project to date.
“Seagreen 1A will allow connection of the remaining 36 turbines of what will be Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm and will be pivotal for Scotland to reach the Scottish government’s net zero targets.”
The application for the Marine Licence was submitted under section 20 of the Marine Scotland Act 2010 and section 65 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to construct an offshore export cable approximately 110km in length, along with cable protection, in the Firth of Forth and Firth of Tay.
Seagreen 1A will hold ‘Meet the Developer’ events in East Lothian to outline to local businesses the opportunities connected to the project and plan public consultation events on the design of the onshore substation plans in 2022.