Developers have lodged plans for a potential £3 billion windfarm off the Angus coast the third such proposal to be brought forward in the last 12 months.
Inch Cape Offshore Limited a 51%/49% joint venture between Repsol UK and EDPR have submitted a bid for consent for a 1.5 gigawatt development in the outer Firth of Tay.
The project could see as many as 213 wind turbines which would be among the tallest anywhere in the world with a blade tip height of 215 metres erected in waters around 20 kilometres off the coast.
The array would be built in a development zone spanning 150 sq km.
Electricity produced by the turbines would be brought ashore via a landing connection at Cockenzie in East Lothian.
The Inch Cape consent application comes 12 months after Mainstream Renewable Power lodged plans for its £1.4 billion Neart na Gaoithe development a 125 turbine scheme earmarked for a site 15.5km off Fife Ness.
In autumn last year, Seagreen Wind Energy a joint venture between Perth-based SSE and Fluor Ltd also pitched in with plans for the first two phases of a potential £10bn array located between 27km and 38km off the Angus coast.
Inch Cape said the submissions of the plans were the culmination of three years’ work.
Ronnie Bonnar, managing director of Repsol UK, said: “It represents another major step towards development of offshore wind power in the outer Firth of Tay, which is expected to deliver around 1,600 Scottish jobs during construction.”
EDPR UK managing director Dan Finch said: “This represents another significant milestone in the delivery of a new industry which will make a significant contribution to improving national energy security, reducing greenhouse gases and protecting consumers from the long-term volatility of the global hydrocarbon markets.”
Lindsay Leask of industry body Scottish Renewables said the submission meant all of the current offshore wind projects slated for Scotland’s east coast were now at the formal planning stage.