Mona

On 16 January 2026, JERA Nex bp signed a lease agreement with The Crown Estate for the Mona Offshore Wind Farm, with the project entering into full lease and granting the developer exclusive legal rights to develop, construct and operate Mona on the designated seabed in the Irish Sea.

On 15 January 2026, it was reported that the Mona offshore wind project, together with the Morgan project, failed to secure a Contract for Difference (CfD) in the UK’s seventh allocation round, leading EnBW to announce its withdrawal from the joint venture on the grounds that the projects were no longer economically viable under its criteria. This outcome meant Mona did not obtain revenue support in that auction round and prompted a change in the project’s ownership structure while development planning continued under JERA Nex bp.

The Mona Offshore Wind Farm (1.5 GW) was not among the successful projects in the UK CfD Allocation Round 7, results announced 14 January 2026. AR7 awarded 8.4 GW of offshore wind capacity but Mona did not secure a contract. The failure to win a CfD contributed to co-developer EnBW's decision to exit the project shortly after.

In September 2025, Natural Resources Wales granted a Marine Licence for the Mona Offshore Wind Project, authorising the offshore elements of the project in Welsh waters including the wind turbines, offshore substation platforms, inter-array cables, and the offshore export cable corridor running approximately 46 km from the array area to landfall near Llanddulas on the Conwy coast.

The Gardline Horizon Geodrill geotechnical survey within the Morgan and Mona array sites was planned to continue until 30 September 2025, providing additional ground data for design of foundations and infrastructure.

The 2025 Fugro offshore geotechnical survey campaign at the Morgan and Mona sites was estimated to be completed by 10 September 2025, after which the collected seabed samples and cores would be analysed to support detailed foundation design.

On 4 July 2025, the UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, granted the Development Consent Order for the Mona Offshore Wind Farm, authorising an offshore wind farm of up to 96 turbines and up to four offshore substation platforms in the east Irish Sea, with export cables making landfall on the North Wales coast and connecting via onshore infrastructure to the Bodelwyddan National Grid substation; Mona thus became the first UK Round 4 leasing project to secure consent.

Fugro planned to begin an offshore geotechnical survey at the Morgan and Mona offshore wind sites on or around 2 June 2025, using the drilling vessel Fugro Synergy to drill, sample and core boreholes across the array areas.

According to a Notice to Mariners issued in March 2025, a geotechnical survey within the Morgan and Mona offshore wind farm array sites was scheduled to start later that month, to be performed by Gardline’s vessel Horizon Geodrill.

The Irish Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage opened a transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment public consultation on 12 June 2024 for the Mona Offshore Wind Project, inviting submissions from the Irish public until 17 July 2024 on potential transboundary environmental effects, including impacts on marine mammals, fisheries, shipping, navigation and other sea users, arising from the UK development consent application for Mona.

On 30 April 2024, the UK Planning Inspectorate notified the Irish authorities that the Development Consent Order application for the Mona Offshore Wind Project had been accepted for examination and invited Ireland to participate in transboundary EIA consultation; on the same date, the proposal was re-screened for possible transboundary effects, identifying potential significant impacts on shipping and navigation.

In February 2024, Mona Offshore Wind Limited submitted a Development Consent Order application to the Planning Inspectorate for the Mona Offshore Wind Project. The application covered the offshore wind farm generating station, up to four offshore export cable circuits at up to 275 kV from the array area to landfall at Llanddulas on the North Wales coast, onshore export cables, a new onshore HVAC substation, and 400 kV grid connection cables to the existing Bodelwyddan National Grid substation. The application was accepted for examination in March 2024.

By February 2024, Mona Offshore Wind Ltd had prepared an Environmental Statement for the Mona Offshore Wind Project, including Volume 1, Chapter 5: Environmental Impact Assessment Methodology, in accordance with the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, as an application document for the project’s Development Consent Order.

In support of its Development Consent Order application in February 2024, Mona Offshore Wind Limited set out a fixed transmission design for the Mona grid connection, confirming an offshore cable corridor of approximately 90 km from the Mona Array Area to landfall at Llanddulas in North Wales and an onshore export cable corridor of about 15 km running inland to a new Mona onshore HVAC substation south of National Grid’s Bodelwyddan substation. The design specifies up to four offshore export cable circuits at up to 275 kV, each including fibre-optic communications, buried where possible, with transition joint bays at landfall and buried onshore export cables linking the transition bays to the new onshore substation and then by 400 kV cables into the existing Bodelwyddan National Grid substation.

As part of the grid connection and cable details submitted with the Mona Offshore Wind Project’s Development Consent Order application in February 2024, the developer confirmed that a High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) export cable solution had been selected for the Mona transmission system. The HVAC option was chosen as the preferred technology for transmitting power from the offshore substation platforms to shore and on to the National Grid connection at Bodelwyddan because it was assessed to minimise electrical losses while also reducing the size and amount of transmission infrastructure required.

By February 2024, Mona Offshore Wind Limited had submitted an application under the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedures) Regulations 2009 for a development consent order for the Mona Offshore Wind Project, including its grid connection works. As part of this DCO application, the developer lodged a Grid Connection and Cable Details Statement describing up to four offshore and onshore export cable circuits, transition joint bays, joint bays and link boxes, a new Mona onshore HVAC substation, and 400 kV cables connecting into the existing National Grid substation at Bodelwyddan.

Kent was awarded a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract by bp and EnBW for the Morgan and Mona offshore wind projects in the Irish Sea. The six‑month FEED will cover the engineering design of jacket foundations for 17–24 MW turbines in around 35 m water depth, informing foundation selection, demonstrating feasibility, and providing a robust design to manage project risk and engagement with fabrication and transport & installation contractors.

On 19 April 2023, the bp and EnBW joint venture developing the Mona Offshore Wind Project opened a six‑week statutory public consultation covering Mona’s transmission and generation assets in the Irish Sea. The consultation, which ran until 4 June 2023, invited local communities and stakeholders across North‑west England, Wales and the Isle of Man to provide feedback via in‑person events and an online hub on proposals including export cables, landfall, onshore cable routes and grid connection works.

By the time the Preliminary Environmental Information Report was issued in early 2023, Mona Offshore Wind Limited had undertaken site selection and constraints analysis to identify and refine transmission route options for the Mona Project, covering both the offshore export cable corridor between the Mona Array Area and landfall and the onshore export cable corridor linking landfall to the proposed onshore substation and the Bodelwyddan National Grid substation. This process defined the Mona Offshore Cable Corridor, generally 1.5 km wide with specified separation distances between cables, and shortlisted landfall locations, onshore cable routes and onshore substation zones to be taken forward for further assessment and consultation.

In 2022, National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO), through the UK Offshore Transmission Network Review, published the Holistic Network Design (HND) that scoped the Mona Offshore Wind Project, including its transmission connection, into the Pathway to 2030 programme. For the North West region where Mona is located, the HND set out a recommended grid connection design based on a combination of collaborative developer-led solutions and single radial connections, establishing the regulatory framework for how Mona’s export cables and associated transmission assets would connect to the onshore grid.

In 2022, the developers of the Morgan and Mona offshore wind farms received electricity generation licences for the two projects, providing statutory authorisation to generate electricity from the planned offshore wind facilities in the Irish Sea.

On 7 November 2022, the Irish Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage received a transboundary EIA screening statement for the proposed Mona Offshore Wind Project, prepared on behalf of the UK Secretary of State, which identified potential significant transboundary environmental impacts on Ireland, including effects on marine mammals, commercial fisheries, shipping and navigation, and other sea users.

The 2022 Fugro geotechnical site investigation campaign for the Morgan and Mona offshore wind sites was planned to run through to September 2022, after which laboratory testing of samples would be undertaken to inform foundation designs for the projects.

bp and EnBW, through Mona Offshore Wind Holdings Limited, indicated that they planned to start the first round of community consultation for the Mona wind farm in June 2022, following submission of their Environmental Impact Assessment scoping request to the UK Planning Inspectorate and Natural Resources Wales, to gather early feedback on the project’s proposals.

In June 2022, following submission of the Mona Scoping Report, the Applicant received the formal Scoping Opinion from the Secretary of State/Planning Inspectorate, confirming the scope and key issues to be addressed in the Environmental Statement for the Mona Offshore Wind Project.

In May 2022, Mona Offshore Wind Limited submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) scoping request and Scoping Report for the Mona Offshore Wind Project to the UK Secretary of State/Planning Inspectorate and to Natural Resources Wales, setting out the proposed approach to assessing environmental impacts and initiating formal scoping under the EIA regulations.

Fugro was contracted to carry out geotechnical site investigations at the Morgan and Mona offshore wind sites in the Irish Sea, with offshore fieldwork scheduled to start in May 2022 using the vessels Fugro Synergy and Normand Mermaid.

In February 2021, the bp and EnBW joint venture secured the Mona site as part of The Crown Estate's Round 4 offshore wind leasing round in the eastern Irish Sea. The award granted seabed rights for a project with an approximate capacity of 1.5 GW, located entirely in Welsh waters approximately 28.8 km from the North Wales coast.

The Crown Estate instigated Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 in September 2019 and identified four Bidding Areas for offshore wind development, including the Northern Wales and Irish Sea area that underpins the Mona Offshore Wind Project.

Mona Offshore Wind Limited is identified as the applicant and project company for the Mona Offshore Wind Project, structured as a joint venture between bp Alternative Energy Investments Ltd and Energie Baden‑Württemberg AG (EnBW), which is responsible for developing the wind farm and its associated transmission works including offshore and onshore export cables, the onshore substation, and the 400 kV connection into National Grid’s Bodelwyddan substation in North Wales.