The UK government has granted planning consent for the 1.5 gigawatt (GW) Morgan offshore wind project, a joint venture between JERA Nex, BP and EnBW, marking a key milestone for one of the country’s Round 4 offshore wind developments.
The project, comprising 96 turbines in the Irish Sea off north-west England, is the second Round 4 wind farm to receive development consent, following the approval of the 1.5GW Mona project in July.
The Planning Inspectorate concluded its six-month examination of the Development Consent Order (DCO) application for Morgan in March, with a decision originally expected by 10 September. The application was submitted on 24 April 2024 and entered the examination phase in late May.
The Morgan project is scheduled to connect to the National Grid’s Penwortham substation in Lancashire by the end of November 2029. The connection will be delivered through a joint transmission system shared with the neighbouring 480 megawatt (MW) Morecambe offshore wind farm, which is being developed by Flotation Energy and Cobra and is undergoing a separate planning review.
“Today we celebrate a major milestone as the Morgan generation assets project has officially received consent from the energy secretary,” said Richard Sandford, chief development officer at JERA Nex BP. “This approval marks the beginning of Morgan’s role delivering clean, dependable energy and advancing the UK’s journey to net zero.”
Industry group RenewableUK welcomed the decision, highlighting its potential contribution to national energy security.
“With a substantial capacity of 1.5GW, Morgan has the potential to increase the UK’s energy security by generating homegrown clean power at a stable and predictable price,” said Barnaby Wharton, director of future electricity systems at RenewableUK. “It also reduces our exposure to spikes in volatile international gas prices which we can’t control.”
The UK continues to advance its offshore wind pipeline as part of its broader net-zero strategy, targeting 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
