Outer Dowsing Wind Farm consent application accepted for examination

The Planning Inspectorate has accepted the Development Consent Order (DCO) application submitted by Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind for a 1.5 GW wind farm, located 33 miles (54km) off the Lincolnshire coast. This milestone brings the project one step closer to delivering green, reliable energy to the UK.  

The decision, announced today, means that the project will now move to the examination stage where a panel of independent inspectors will assess the application and make a recommendation to the Secretary of State about whether the project should go ahead. Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind will take steps to formally notify consultees and landowners of the acceptance of the submission and how they will be able to make representations on the Application.  

Responding to the inspectorate’s decision to accept the application for examination, Mark Giulianotti, Head of Europe at Corio and Chair of the ODOW ProjectCo, said: 

“This is another important step forwards for Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind and for the delivery of greater offshore wind capacity in the UK. 

“The Outer Dowsing project team have worked tirelessly to present a comprehensive application, underpinned by deep technical expertise and a significant programme of community and stakeholder engagement. We look forward to a positive outcome from the next critical stage of the consenting process, and to moving ahead with our partners to make the Outer Dowsing offshore windfarm a reality.” 

Chris Jenner, Outer Dowsing Development Director, said: 

“This milestone marks the culmination of three years of work and it is thanks to the experience on the team and highly engaged communities that we were able to get the project to this stage in this time frame. 

“Through our voluntary participation in the Early Adopters Programme we were also able to streamline certain processes to help refine the substation design principles. We are now one step closer to building a 1.5 GW wind farm that over its lifetime could result in an injection of over £2 billion of UK investment alongside the creation of hundreds of local jobs. We look forward to offering full cooperation with The Planning Inspectorate throughout the upcoming examination period.”  

Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind is being developed by TotalEnergies, Corio Generation and Gulf Energy Development. The DCO application includes an offshore wind farm comprising up to 100 turbines, underground cables to carry the power from the landfall site close to Anderby Marsh and a new onshore substation at Surfleet Marsh. The project will then connect into existing National Grid overhead transmission lines in the Weston Marsh area. 

Following multiple rounds of consultation, Outer Dowsing has integrated many changes to their initial design such as using horizontal directional drilling to drill underneath sensitive areas, onshore cable route amendments and offshore boundary changes to mitigate navigation impacts. 

During the next phase of the consent process, members of the public can register for updates directly on the Planning Inspectorate web page for Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind.

Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind 

Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind is a 1.5GW project being developed approximately 54km (33miles) off the Lincolnshire coast. 

The project is being developed by TotalEnergies, Corio Generation and Gulf Energy Development. It is anticipated to generate renewable electricity equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 1.6 million households and will play a critical role in achieving the UK Government’s ambition to deliver 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050. 

Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind will reduce emissions equivalent to nearly two million tonnes of CO2 per year of operations through the generation of renewable electricity. This is equivalent to removing over 650,000 petrol cars from the road for the duration of the Project. 

The Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind project and the renewable energy it will produce will become an essential component of the UK’s net-zero energy system, delivering opportunities and empowering transformational environmental change.