Planning Consent Submitted

The North Sea Transition Authority’s Energy Pathfinder listing for Equinor’s Celtic Sea Project (PDA3) sets out an indicative development timeline that includes a Development Consent Order (DCO) milestone in 2030. The DCO is the core planning consent for the offshore wind project, and its appearance as a dated item in the project’s timeline indicates when Equinor expects to reach the main planning-consent stage for this site. The same listing confirms that Equinor holds 100% of the PDA3 lease and that the project has a minimum size of 500 MW and a maximum of 1,500 MW, with the potential to be built in up to three phases of at least 300 MW each. This frames the DCO as a key regulatory step for a large-scale floating offshore wind development in the Celtic Sea. The Pathfinder entry also notes a target grid connection date of 2035, placing the 2030 DCO milestone several years ahead of when the project is expected to export power. This gap reflects the time required to complete the consent process, finalise detailed design, progress procurement across foundations, wind turbine assembly, cables, electrical infrastructure and port services, and then undertake construction and commissioning. Equinor’s dedicated project website independently confirms that this PDA—awarded through The Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Leasing Round 5—covers a floating offshore wind area with up to 1.5 GW of capacity, aligning with the scale implied in the Pathfinder timeline and underscoring the strategic importance of achieving the DCO milestone around 2030.