The marine license application for a meteorological mast to be erected close to the proposed Navitus Bay wind park development area has been approved by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO).
The meteorological mast will collect reliable and representative wind data, which will be used to inform the design of the wind farm and provide estimates of the energy it could produce.
The meteorological mast will be a temporary lattice structure, approximately 100 metres in height and located approximately eight miles from the Swanage and Bournemouth coastline. Construction of the mast is set to begin late 2012, and will take approximately one month to complete. The structure will be removed once all the relevant data has been gathered.
Chris Sherrington, Project Director for Navitus Bay Development Limited, says “The approval of the meteorological mast application is an important milestone for the project and will help us gather more important data to support the planning application.
“It will also help us ensure that we can maximise the amount of clean energy which the wind park could create. Currently we estimate that we could generate enough energy to power up to 820,000 homes.
“Alongside our consultation with the MMO, and local authorities, we are continuing to talk to Trinity House, the Marine Coastguard Agency (MCA) as well as local sailing and yachting clubs. This is part of the Navigational Safety Risk Assessment and will feed into the final Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which we are currently undertaking.”
Navitus Bay Development Limited plans to submit a Development Consent Order (the wind park’s planning application) to the Planning Inspectorate at the end of 2013.
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Offshore WIND staff, June 19, 2012; Image: eneco