Other Permit Awarded

East Lothian Council granted planning permission for the onshore grid connection infrastructure for the Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) offshore wind farm in June 2013. This approval followed an application submitted in November 2012 for works that include 12.3 kilometres of buried onshore cable and a new substation. Together, these assets form the key onshore elements of the project’s grid connection, enabling electricity generated offshore to be transmitted into the onshore transmission network. The consent confirms that the proposed layout and infrastructure met the local authority’s planning requirements at that time. The permission specifically covers the buried cable route and associated substation infrastructure, which are essential to link the offshore export cables making landfall at Thorntonloch Beach to the onshore substation at Crystal Rig in the Lammermuir Hills, located approximately 12.3 kilometres inland. Securing this onshore planning permission was a critical regulatory milestone, complementing the separate offshore consents granted by the Scottish Government for the marine elements of the project. Without this local council approval, the project would not have been able to complete the end‑to‑end transmission chain from turbines to consumers. With the planning consent in place for the onshore works, the project developers could move forward with detailed engineering, procurement, and subsequent construction of the cable route and substation. This regulatory clearance therefore marked a decisive step in de‑risking NnG’s overall development pathway and paved the way for later contracting of cable and substation suppliers to physically deliver the connection infrastructure described in the approved plans.