Planning Consent Submitted

Solway Offshore Limited and Offshore Energy Resources Limited submitted a Section 36 application under the Electricity Act 1989 to Scottish Ministers in June 2002 for a 60-turbine, 180 MW offshore wind farm on the Robin Rigg sandbank in the Solway Firth — the first commercial offshore wind farm proposed in Scottish waters. The supporting Environmental Statement was prepared by Natural Power and dated 2002. The application was made under the consenting regime then operating in Scotland whereby Scottish Ministers (rather than the UK DTI) determined Section 36 applications for offshore generation in Scottish territorial waters. Section 36 consent was granted by Scottish Ministers in March 2003. E.ON UK Renewables acquired the project in 2003. A Marine Environment Monitoring Programme (MEMP) was subsequently developed in conjunction with the Robin Rigg Management Group covering pre-, during- and post-construction stages, in accordance with the Section 36 consent conditions. First power was generated for test purposes on 9 September 2009 and commercial operations began in April 2010.