DONG Energy and E.ON, the partners in the consented Scarweather Sands offshore wind farm in Swansea Bay, have announced that they have decided against proceeding with the construction of the project.

A lease for the project was awarded to the partners by The Crown Estate as part of the first round of developments of offshore wind in UK waters. It was viewed as a demonstration scale site to allow companies to gain experience for future, larger developments.

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However, the challenging seabed conditions, relatively poor wind speeds at this location and a restriction on turbine height have meant that, as Scarweather is just 30 turbines, the project is no longer commercially viable.

Dave Rogers, Regional Director of Renewables for E.ON, said: "This is not a decision that we've taken lightly, a lot of work has gone into trying to make the project work but, sadly, we've had to recognise that we can't go ahead.

"Put simply it has become clear that Scarweather Sands is not the best place to build a small scale offshore wind farm.

"We've learnt a lot from this development which has helped us in successfully delivering other larger projects and rather than carry on for the wrong reasons, we've decided not to build the wind farm."

(CD/BMcC)