How the proposed Atlantic Array offshore wind farm might look. This image shows the North Hoyle offshore wind farm, situated in Liverpool Bay in North East Wales.

Final proposal will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in June, say RWE.

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FINAL plans for a giant off-shore wind farm 10 miles off the North Devon coast are set to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in June.

A statement released by developer RWE npower renewables today (Wednesday) said more ‘refinements’ to the proposed Atlantic Array had been made following environmental and engineering studies, as well as consultation with local people and statutory bodies.

The wind farm area has been further reduced from 238km2 to 200km2 and the maximum number of turbines has been reduced from 278 to 240. The maximum height of each turbine would be 220 metres.

The nearest turbine would be 16.78km off Mortehoe, 20.27km off Capstone in Ilfracombe, and 29.34km off Westward Ho!

The Bristol Channel scheme would now have a maximum capacity of 1200 megawatts, compared with 1,500 megawatts, enough to meet the needs of up to 900,000 average UK households.

Craig Harwood, Project Manager for Atlantic Array, said the changes primarily focus on reducing the seascape; visual effects and potential underwater disturbance from piling noise during the wind farm’s construction.

He said: “The revisions build on the changes we made in 2012 to minimise environmental effects.

“Combined, these refinements deliver the most appropriate offshore wind farm scheme for the area from both a technical and environmental perspective.”

RWE said that to date, 11.5 per cent of contracts for the array – almost £2million – had been placed in Devon.

Detailed information on the final plans will be available in the form of an environmental statement, which will be submitted as part of the consent application to the Planning Inspectorate.

Once the application is validated, members of the local community will have the opportunity to register with the Planning Inspectorate to take part in the application examination process.