One of the world's largest wind farms to be built off Scottish coast

One of the world’s largest offshore wind farms is to be built off the coast of East Lothian after being awarded a contract by the UK Government.

SSE has secured a 20-year contract for the Berwick Bank Wind Farm project on the outer Firth of Forth, which will include 307 turbines generating enough renewable energy to power over six million homes.

With the potential to deliver up to 4.1 gigawatts, the development would be one of the largest offshore opportunities in the world and could increase Scotland’s overall renewable energy capacity by 25%.

The project secured backing through the Contracts for Difference scheme to support low carbon electricity generation, end the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and lower energy bills.

Under the latest round of contracts, the UK Government has secured a record 8.4 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power in the flagship auction for green energy schemes through six projects.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the new projects would generate enough electricity to power 12 million homes, deliver around £22 billion in private investment, support 7,000 jobs and help the UK tackle the climate crisis.

Berwick Bank is the first new Scottish project since 2022 and could inject around £8m into the UK economy and support over 9,000 jobs, according to SSE.

As well as being capable of generating clean energy to the equivalent of all of Scotland’s households twice over, it could avoid eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year – similar to removing all of Scotland’s annual car emissions.

Martin Pibworth, chief executive of SSE, said the contract allows the company to “advance the project towards a final investment decision”.

“If built to its full projected capacity of more than 4GW, Berwick Bank Wind Farm can rank among the largest offshore wind projects globally”, he added.

“It would represent the single most significant contribution toward achieving the Scottish and UK Governments’ offshore wind targets and can accelerate the delivery of homegrown, affordable, and secure clean energy to UK consumers from excellent Scottish offshore wind resources.”

Energy secretary Ed Miliband said: “With these results, Britain is taking back control of our energy sovereignty.

“This is a historic win for those who want Britain to stand on our own two feet, controlling our own energy rather than depending on markets controlled by petrostates and dictators.”

Experts had said he would need to commission 8.4GW of new offshore wind capacity during the auction round to stay on track to meet the Government’s target of removing almost all fossil fuels from the UK’s electricity supply by 2030.

Matching this figure on Wednesday, Miliband said the auction marked a “monumental step” towards Labour’s wider goal.

Because renewable projects can be expensive, developers bid to secure a guaranteed rate – or a strike price – they can charge for each megawatt hour (MWh) of power they generate in the coming years.

If the price of electricity on the open market dips below that, subsidies will top up payments to companies. If the price is higher, companies have to pay back the difference.

The Government has secured a strike price of £91 per MWh on average or just over £65 in the commonly used benchmark of 2012 prices.

In contrast, the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) industry metric on Wednesday showed the cost of building and operating a new gas-fired power station at £147 per megawatt hour.