Controversial floating wind farm has green lights across the board to go ahead

The developers of the controversial White Cross floating offshore wind farm have announced they now have full planning approval to green light the project.

Flotation Energy and Cobra said today (Thursday, August 7) they have been granted full onshore and offshore planning permission from the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and North Devon Council (NDC).

On Tuesday (August 5) NDC issued its decision notice for full approval while the MMO has also now granted a license to construct and operate a 100MW floating offshore windfarm some 32 miles off the North Devon coast.

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The project, which is a demonstration to prove the viability of wind energy in the Celtic Sea, will consist of six to eight state-of-the-art floating wind turbines and developers say when operational it will generate enough ‘clean’ electricity to power around 135,000 households. 

While few if any in North Devon objected to the turbines themselves, the plan to bring the electricity cables onshore at Saunton Sands and then tunnel them under almost five miles of highly protected areas to a substation at Yelland raised a huge amount of opposition.

There were almost 2,000 objections to the scheme, first submitted nearly two years ago and a petition of nearly 4,000 signatures presented by the Save Our Sands (SOS) campaign group to North Devon Council, which received 41 letters of support for the plans.

Campaigners fear the scheme will have a huge effect on the environment and sensitive habitats, tourism and cause major disruption to Saunton beach and nearby Braunton while the works are going on for up to two years.

But the developers say they will use ‘trenchless’ technology to bury the cables, which must be between 1.5 and three metres below ground, according to the planning conditions.

They say following public consultations they have adapted their plans to mitigate disruption to the environment and the local area.

Campaign group Love Braunton, assisted by Save Our Sands, is continuing to fundraise for a legal challenge to halt the development or rather, see the cables come onshore at another less sensitive location.

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Cobra and Flotation Energy said today the floating wind farm was a ‘stepping stone’ to pave the way for ‘the Crown Estate’s ambitions to scale-up and commercialise floating energy technologies in the Celtic Sea’.

Sam Park, senior project manager for the White Cross project, said: “This is an important moment for the White Cross Offshore Windfarm, and for floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea.

“We are grateful to North Devon Council and the Marine Management Organisation and to everyone who has engaged with the project. In response to feedback, we have adapted our plans to minimise environmental and social impacts.

“The UK is already a leader in floating offshore wind technology, but until now this has only been via projects in Scottish waters. This decision gives us a valuable opportunity to harness this pioneering technology to help deliver the energy transition in the South West of England.

“By doing so, we will seek to spark the development of a specialised local supply chain, creating jobs whilst providing 135,000 homes with renewable energy.”

Campaigners have challenged the much-touted ‘£350million investment’ developers say will bring to the South West.

In fact, they point out the White Cross project figures state the development and construction phase will bring in £51m, but that is across the South West and Wales combined.

The calculations also claim the wind farm once operational will support 30 jobs and bring in £2m a year, but again across both the South West and Wales.

Over its 26 year lifetime, the total ‘value added’ would be £153m for the two regions, the project website says.

There is as yet no indication when construction work will begin, but the onshore plans for the cabling and substation must begin within three years, as required by planning permission conditions.