RPS has been chosen by BP and EnBW as Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) lead for the development of their lease areas in the Irish Sea.
The lease areas, with preferred bidder status recently awarded as part of The Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4, have a combined potential capacity of 3GW.
This is enough to power the equivalent of more than 3.4 million UK homes with clean electricity.
RPS will lead a range of assessments, working closely with the BP and EnBW project team and a wide range of stakeholders, culminating in an application for development consent for each project.
RPS has previously been selected for a number of the offshore wind sector’s major “firsts”.
These include the world’s largest offshore wind farms Hornsea One, Two and Three, Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms the Berwick and Marr Bank projects.
Its team will both manage the EIA and HRA for the project and provide subject matter expertise, drawing on substantial recent and relevant DCO experience, to understand and mitigate any potential risks involved in project development.
RPS has purposely driven strategic R&D in several key risk areas for offshore wind consenting.
This enables RPS to remain at the forefront of the industry and ensures our technical subject matter experts can bring the latest R&D and innovation to its clients, according to the company.
RPS added in a statement: “We can develop solutions to key challenges based on best-available science and provide clients with the information they need to make well-informed decisions.
“We are proud to support BP and EnBW’s first foray into the UK offshore wind market as part of our ongoing commitment to facilitating and consulting on major transition projects.”