On 31 December 2020, Ørsted’s Hornsea Project Three offshore wind farm was awarded Development Consent. This follows the Planning Inspectorate’s Examination Phase which ran from October 2018 to April 2019 and requests for further information by the Secretary of State in late 2019 and 2020, including information to support a Habitats Regulations derogation case. The Secretary of State’s decision is based on the conclusions and recommendations by the Examining Authority in respect of the application. With up to 231 turbines, located 121 km from the Norfolk coast, Hornsea Three will generate enough energy to supply well over 2 million UK homes if built to full capacity.

RPS have supported Ørsted as the lead EIA consultant for the project. Their technical specialists have worked closely with Ørsted’s Environment and Consents team since 2016 during the pre-application phase, during examination and during the Secretary of State’s post examination consultations.

Alun Williams, Director of Offshore Renewables at RPS and Project Director for the Hornsea Three EIA, commented: 
“We are proud to have worked alongside Ørsted’s development team and in close collaboration with the projects key stakeholders to ultimately achieve a positive outcome”

RPS was the lead EIA consultant for the first three Ørsted Hornsea offshore wind farm projects – all have received development consent.

Hornsea One, a 1.2 GW project was consented in December 2014 and is now generating power and Hornsea Two, a 1.4 GW project which was consented in August 2016 and is now under construction. Based on the successful delivery of these projects, RPS was awarded Hornsea Three providing project management, consenting and technical services throughout the pre-application phase - from scoping through to submission of the Environmental Statement in 2018, and the examination phase from October 2018 to April 2019.

For all three Hornsea projects, most of the assessments were undertaken by RPS in-house technical specialists. The offshore and onshore technical consultancy included a comprehensive range of marine and terrestrial, human, biological and physical environmental topics.

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