BWEA has welcomed the announcement that BERR has approved two major new wind farms.

The 315MW offshore wind farm, Sherringham Shoal will be situated 12 miles off the Norfolk coast and is being developed by Norwegian utility company StatoilHydro and Dutch energy company Evelop. When fully operational the wind farm will have 88 turbines. It is expected to be operational by 2011. BERR has also approved the 75MW, 18 turbine Middlemoor wind farm proposals near Alnwick, Northumberland being developed by Npower Renewables. Both applications were subject to a Ministry of Defence objection due to concerns that the proposed wind farm would interfere with defence radar. The approvals are conditional on a technical solution being reached within 5 years. These are the first major applications to see a MoD objection withdrawn following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the wind industry and Defence officials in May this year.