The Scottish Court of Session has ruled in favour of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), considering that the Scottish government had failed to take into account risks for sea birds when approving four large offshore wind projects with a total capacity of up to 2.3 GW. Consequently, the approvals for the 784 MW Inch Cape wind project (developed by the SDIC), Mainstream Renewable Power's 450 MW Neart Na Gaoithe and the Seagreen Alpha and Bravo projects (525 MW each) were overturned. The Scottish government has 21 days to appeal the ruling.
This decision will force developers to re-apply for planning consent, and some may simply scrap their projects. The £2bn (€2.4bn) Neart na Gaoithe project was awarded a contract for difference (CfD) subsidy in March 2015 but the judicial review started by the RSPB led Mainstream Renewable Power to miss some of the milestones in the CfD agreement, which was terminated in May 2016. The three other projects have secured no CfD agreements so far.
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