Berwick Bank offshore wind farm – onshore environmental impact assessment

Challenge

We are fulfilling the lead onshore EIA coordinator role for SSE Renewables via Berwick Bank Wind Limited, for the proposed Berwick Bank offshore wind farm located off the coast of East Lothian, Scotland.

This development has the potential to generate over 4 GW of renewable energy once commissioned, making it one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world and a critical step towards the government’s net zero ambitions.

The client required a range of EIA consultancy services to accompany a planning application for the infrastructure associated with landfall, the onshore cables, temporary construction compounds and substation.

Solution

We produced the onshore Scoping report which was submitted in August 2020, working in conjunction with trusted technical advisor partner organisations. The scoping phase included conducting baseline environmental ecology surveys of the onshore study area, desktop baseline data collection, coordinating all onshore chapters of the scoping report and consultation with stakeholders and the planning authority (East Lothian Council).

Following scoping, technical surveys were undertaken to feed into the detailed site selection and design process e.g. noise monitoring and ornithology surveys. We coordinated the technical assessments for the topics scoped into the EIA, and subsequently prepared the onshore EIA, Habitats Regulation Assessment, and provided consents advice as part of support for the planning application. The application was submitted to East Lothian Council in Q1 2023.

Impact

Following the submission and successful validation of the planning application, we are continuing to provide environmental planning support to address post-submission matters.