The 600MW First Flight Wind offshore wind farm project, partially developed by Ørsted, RES, and B9 between 2011 and 2014, was ultimately shelved due to two key challenges. Firstly, projected curtailment, which would result in a 20-30% loss of revenue. Secondly, the premature end of the UK offshore wind ROC support scheme shortened the Northern Ireland development licence by two years, leaving insufficient time to complete critical tasks.

Other prospective offshore wind developers of the Olympic and North Channel Wind projects have since received similar projections with little prospect of achieving cost effective grid connections for the GW scale developments they are pursuing.

Onshore wind developers on the Mull of Kintyre are also stranded from cost effective grid connections in Scotland so that they too are interested in the possibility of sending their wind energy in the direction of NI.

Malin Sea Wind was awarded a development license under the so called ‘INTOG round’, that was set up specifically to help the Oil and Gas sector to decarbonise their offshore upstream activities.

Is it time for First Flight Wind to be resurrected?