The project

An application was submitted in March 2025 to the Isle of Man Government for consent to build and operate an offshore wind farm located within the Isle of Man territorial waters capable of generating in the region of 1.4 GW of renewable energy. The Mooir Vannin Generation project consists of up to 87 wind turbines, three offshore platforms, cables connecting the wind farm to the Isle of Man, and landfall assets on the Isle of Man. Ørsted is working with the Isle of Man Government to explore providing them up to 100 MW to help support the Island’s renewable energy, net-zero and economic growth targets. The remainder would be sent to the UK. That means the Mooir Vannin Offshore Wind Farm could power over 1.4 million UK homes by its estimated operational date of 2032-2033.

The East Irish Sea Transmission Project will develop the infrastructure needed to connect the Mooir Vannin Offshore Wind Farm to the UK. This will include:

• Offshore electrical connection cables bringing power from the offshore wind farm to a landfall location in North West England.
• Onshore electrical connection cables bringing power from the landfall location to Penwortham Substation.
• Offshore and/or Onshore Booster stations (if required) to increase the power transfer capacity of the export cables.
• An Onshore Substation housing the electrical infrastructure required to connect to the UK high-voltage transmission network.

In October 2024 the Secretary of State determined that the East Irish Sea Transmission Project should be considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) – a designation that requires development consent under the Planning Act 2008.

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) must be completed as part of the application for development consent. The purpose of an EIA is to identify potential impacts that may arise from the proposed development. This could include impacts to the environment, community or local economy.

The first stage of an EIA is the development of an Environmental Scoping Report which can be found here in our document library. The purpose of the Environmental Scoping Report is to identify the key assessments that are needed in the EIA. It will be reviewed by a range of statutory stakeholders including local authorities, government organisations and other users of the land and sea. After their review, a Scoping Opinion will be provided by the Planning Inspectorate.

While the Scoping Report is undergoing its official review, local residents are also invited to give their views on the project proposal. Feedback from both the local community and the Scoping Opinion will help to refine the project before its Development Consent application. We hope to share the evolution of the project’s design and the preliminary results of the EIA by the autumn of 2026 and submit the development consent application approximately a year later. Please see our projected timeline below.