The UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero has granted development consent to RWE’s Awel y Môr offshore wind project off the North Wales Coast.

The application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration by Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Limited on 20 April 2022 and accepted for examination on 18 May 2022.

Awel y Môr is planned to be operational before 2030 with a maximum of 50 turbines at a maximum height of 332 metres. RWE said that the wind farm will become Wales’ largest renewable energy project, which could provide power for up to 500,000 homes.

The project will be located 10.5 kilometres off the Welsh coast in the Irish Sea, alongside the operational 576 MW Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm with its grid connection planned to reach the shoreline between Rhyl and Prestatyn.

RWE said that the Secretary of State’s awarding of the development consent order is the culmination of more than five years of work and that the project team is now awaiting the granting of the necessary marine license from Natural Resource Wales to progress the project into construction.

“We hope to secure our marine licence in the coming months, plus carry out offshore site investigations on the seabed as we begin to finalise plans for construction. To that end, I would also encourage any company with an interest in potentially joining the supply chain for Awel y Môr to sign up to RWE’s Supplier Transparency Engagement Programme,” said Tamsyn Rowe, RWE project lead for Awel y Môr.

RWE is developing Awel y Môr, in a joint venture with partners Stadtwerke München (30 per cent) and Siemens Financial Services, the financing arm of Siemens (10 per cent).

Awel y Môr is one of the seven extension projects to be awarded a seabed lease agreement by The Crown Estate 2020 and among the four that are developed by RWE with its partners.

“Set alongside the UK’s first commercial scale offshore wind farm at North Hoyle, which RWE continues to operate, Awel y Môr is firmly at the heart of our plans for renewable energy generation,” said Danielle Lane, RWE’s director of development for UK and Ireland.

“However, to make this happen, Government will need to ensure a suitable CfD auction that is fit for purpose and capable of unlocking the fantastic clean energy and investment opportunities that Awel y Mor and our broader offshore wind portfolio represent for the UK’s supply chain and its ambitions to expand offshore wind, decarbonize the energy system and achieve net zero.”

RWE is involved in four of the UK’s seven offshore wind extension projects, plus two Round 4 Dogger Bank South projects. The company is also building the 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind farm off the east coast.

“As the largest power generator in the UK, we have ambitions to invest up to £15bn in new clean energy projects and infrastructure by 2030, with north Wales set to continue in its key role,” said Lane.