UK Set to Reject Large Offshore Wind Project in English Channel

Photo: Shutterstock/Teun van den Dries

 

COPENHAGEN, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Britain is poised to reject a large wind farm project in the English Channel as it would jeopardise the UNESCO World Heritage Site status of the country’s Jurassic Coast, British newspaper The Telegraph reported.

The project, Navitus Bay, was to be built near the Isle of Wight by Eneco Wind and EDF Energy with the aim of delivering up to 970 megawatts, enough to power 700,000 homes.

MHI Vestas, a joint venture between Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, had been chosen as the preferred turbine supplier for the project.

The Telegraph reported late Friday that a decision on the project was expected this week and that “ministers are poised to reject the plans” following a recommendation to do so by a planning inspectorate.

Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change confirmed a decision was due by the end of this week.

“We cannot comment on planning decisions until they have been announced,” a spokesman said.

A spokesman for MHI Vestas said the company would not comment on speculation. The project developers were not immediately available for comments.

The project was one of four to have chosen MHI Vestas’ 8 megawatt turbine, the world’s most powerful.

Nordic bank Nordea said in a note to clients that it would be “a considerable disappointment” for MHI Vestas if the project was rejected.

Shares in Vestas were down 0.7 percent at 1010 GMT, underperforming a 0.3 percent fall in the Danish benchmark index OMXC20CAP. (Reporting by Teis Jensen, Additional reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Mark Potter)

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