Today, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change granted development consent for Galloper Wind Farm; an offshore wind farm off the Suffolk coast with an installed capacity of up to 504 megawatts.
The development consent would allow the joint venture partners, RWE npower renewables and SSE renewables, to build the offshore wind farm which could meet the energy needs of hundreds of thousands of UK homes each year.
Galloper Wind Farm Project Director Bart Oberink said: “We are very pleased the Secretary of State has given consent for Galloper Wind Farm. The consent means a valuable boost to the UK economy and is expected to support up to 850 jobs during the construction phase alone.
“We will now therefore consider the extent of the mitigation outlined in the Secretary of State’s report in the best interests of the project and the local environment whilst seeking to ensure the wind farm remains an attractive investment opportunity.
“In response to earlier consultation we significantly enhanced the project and undertook in-depth studies which confirmed that the scheme was very unlikely to have an adverse impact.
“Galloper Wind Farm has the potential to attract over £1 billion of investment into new UK energy infrastructure from private investors. It is great for the country’s investment opportunities and could support the creation of hundreds of jobs.
“Galloper wind farm could make a substantial contribution to the UK’s clean energy supply. The total combined capacity for Galloper and Greater Gabbard, the neighbouring operational offshore wind farm also owned by RWE npower renewables and SSE, could mean over 1GW of renewable, home-grown energy for the UK.”
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Press release, May 24, 2013; Image: galloperwindfarm