A NEW mega wind farm will "catapult some of Scotland’s most-loved seabird species towards extinction," according to RSPB Scotland.
Located approximately 38km from the Scottish Borders coastline at St Abbs, Berwick Bank wind farm has been approved by the Scottish Government.
The site will have an estimated capacity of 4.1 gigawatts (GW) which, with current technology, could generate enough electricity each year to power every household in Scotland around twice over.
However, the Scottish Government's own assessment estimates that the project will kill 261 gannets, 815 kittiwakes, 2808 guillemots, 66 puffins and 154 razorbills in the first year of operation and this level of mortality will continue throughout the 35-year lifetime of the development.
A coalition of five charities previously wrote to the First Minister urging him to reject Berwick Bank wind farm, to protect wildlife and progress less damaging offshore projects.
Although Scottish ministers require the developers to demonstrate that “sufficient” seabird compensation will be put in place before the project can start, the charity said it is not clear how the thousands of seabirds predicted to be killed can be compensated for.
Anne McCall, director of RSPB Scotland, said: “This is a very dark day for seabirds. It is a terrible decision on a really bad development.
“Berwick Bank would be catastrophic for Scotland’s globally important seabirds which are already facing alarming declines. In addition, its impacts are so damaging they will make the relative impacts of other wind farms significantly higher.
"This one wind farm is going to make it really challenging to accelerate renewable projects across Scottish seas. We are incredibly concerned that Scottish Government have granted consent for a project which could catapult some of Scotland’s most-loved seabird species towards extinction.
“RSPB Scotland recognises climate change is one of the biggest threats to seabirds, but there needs to be seabirds left to save. We support nature-positive offshore wind, in the right locations with minimised impacts on wildlife and measures to restore and protect seabird populations. But this is predicted to be one of the most damaging wind farms for birds we are aware of anywhere on the planet."
McCall said the charity intends to scrutinise the details of the consent documents over the "coming hours and days" and consider further steps.