News
NIRAS supports three major offshore wind applications in Scottish waters
Photo Credit: Ryan Fleischer
The complexities of environmental assessment work are increasing, as offshore wind development expands into new areas and the combined effects of multiple projects need to be evaluated. Our Marine Environment team is seeing this first hand through its involvement in three major offshore wind farm applications in Scottish waters, each bringing different environmental and technical considerations.
August 20, 2026
Earlier this year, the application for Spiorad na Mara, a collaboration between Northland Power and ESB off the Isle of Lewis, was accepted by MD-LOT to progress to consultation. Our team delivered the offshore Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) alongside the offshore ornithology Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) chapter and technical assessments.
More recently, applications were submitted for Morven North and Morven South, developed by Morven Offshore Wind, a collaboration between EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG and JERA Nex bp Limited. Located off the east coast of Scotland, the projects together could generate up to 3GW of renewable energy, enough to power the equivalent of 3 million homes. Working collaboratively with application leads Tetra Tech, our team delivered the ornithological elements of the application including inputs to the HRA and offshore ornithology EIA and technical reports.
Our UK Marine Environment team supported both projects with critical inputs to EIA and HRA assessments and look forward to continuing to support through the next stages of the consent process.
Get in touch
