The UK Planning Inspectorate has completed the examination of the application for an order granting development consent for the 1.2GW East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm.
The findings and conclusions arising from the examination, together with a recommendation from the Examining Authority (ExA) panel, will be sent to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy no later than 28 March 2017, according to Philip Asquith , Lead Member of the Panel of Examining Inspectors.
The East Anglia THREE application was submitted by ScottishPower Renewables in November 2015 and accepted for examination the following month.
East Anglia THREE will comprise up to 172 wind turbines installed across an area of 305km² off the coast of Suffolk in the southern North Sea.
It is anticipated that the project will support up to 4,800 jobs in the UK during the construction phase, with around 2,900 jobs created in the East of England region alone.
If the planning application gets approval, it is anticipated that onshore construction could begin in 2021, with offshore work starting in 2022 and first power generation achieved in 2023.
ScottishPower Renewables is currently developing the East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm, a GBP 2 billion project comprising 102 turbines with a combined capacity of 714MW. Pre-construction works for the project are expected to start in January 2017.