Celtic Sea floating wind farm clears planning hurdles

Flotation Energy and Cobra have secured offshore and onshore planning approval for their White Cross floating offshore wind project in the Celtic Sea offshore southwest England.

The partners submitted applications in 2023 to North Devon Council and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to build and operate the 100-MW floating offshore wind farm and associated works to connect it to the UK grid. Both applications then went through three public rounds of consultations.

The MMO has issued a Marine Licence under the UK’s Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to enable the offshore elements of the project, in compliance with the South West Marine Plan.

White Cross, 52 km from the south Devon coast, will feature up to eight floating wind turbines, with the offshore export cable(s) making landfall at Saunton Sands beach, before connecting to the onshore export cable(s).

The latter will be fully buried along their 8-km length to a new onshore substation that will include a connection to the existing East Yelland substation. The cable(s) will pass beneath Braunton Burrows and the Taw Estuary using trenchless technology to avoid surface disruption within the Braunton Burrows Special Area of Conservation (SAC) dune system and the Taw-Torridge Estuary SSSI.