After reducing the overall area for its proposed Berwick Bank offshore wind farm by 10 per cent last year, SSE Renewables plans to further reduce the size of the area by 20 per cent before applying for planning consent with Scottish Ministers later this year.

Updating the Environmental Impact Assessment to reflect the new boundary and taking requests made by Marine Scotland in the Scoping Opinion will result in the consent application being made in the fourth quarter of this year rather than the second quarter, as anticipated, the developer said.

The change to the boundary is one of several measures being taken by the project to reduce potential effects on local seabird populations as well as benthic and shellfish ecology, fishing, shipping and navigation and represents the final step in the pre-consent design process.

The decision to further reduce the overall area of the Berwick Bank development site comes after SSE Renewables already reduced the area by 10 per cent last year. The decision was made as part of the project’s design process following extensive stakeholder consultation, detailed ornithological studies, and full environmental assessment which is nearing completion.