The UK Government has granted development consent for the shared transmission assets serving the Morgan and Morecambe offshore wind farm projects in the Irish Sea, clearing one of the most significant remaining planning hurdles for two of the country’s most advanced offshore wind developments.
The decision was made by Baroness Curran on behalf of the Energy Secretary and was announced today, 15 September 2026. The application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in October 2024, accepted for examination in November 2024, and followed a six-month examination during which local communities, statutory consultees and interested parties were given the opportunity to submit evidence.
The Development Consent Order covers the offshore and onshore transmission infrastructure needed to bring power from both wind farms to the national grid, a critical enabler that allows both projects to progress toward construction and financial close. Shared transmission infrastructure between two wind farm projects reduces the overall environmental footprint, eliminates duplicate cable routes and lowers the total cost of grid connection, providing a model the industry has been advocating for across the UK’s offshore wind programme.
Morgan Offshore Wind Limited and Morecambe Offshore Windfarm Limited submitted the application jointly. Morgan is the project that the Crown Estate launched a competitive tender for in June 2026 following EnBW and JERA Nex bp’s withdrawal from the development earlier in the year. The new developer has not yet been publicly confirmed, but the consent awarded today covers the transmission assets regardless of who ultimately develops the wind turbine array.
The Morecambe project, located in the Irish Sea off the Lancashire and Cumbrian coasts, holds a development consent order for its generating station and is advancing toward a final investment decision. It is being developed to capitalise on the strong wind resource and established supply chain infrastructure in the region, with Barrow-in-Furness and other northwest England ports well positioned to serve as construction and operations bases.
The dual consent marks a further step forward for the UK’s offshore wind pipeline at a time when delivery has become a political priority. The government is targeting 50 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 as part of its clean energy mission, with the National Energy System Operator estimating that the UK needs to consent and begin construction of new projects at a pace not seen before to meet that ambition. Today’s decision represents the 113th energy application out of 181 applications examined to date by the Planning Inspectorate, completed within the statutory timescale set out under the Planning Act 2008.
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