Plan to install wind turbines to power Portsmouth International Port are still being considered two years on

The scheme proposes the construction of 25 ‘small scale’ turbines across the port site as part of efforts to make it the first zero carbon port in the country. Originally nine larger ones had been considered.

Speaking in 2019, Portsmouth International Port director, Mike Sellers, said the project would bring 'significant' benefits to the city as a whole and could inspire similar work at ports across the country.

A planning application was submitted in April 2020 for the 15m structures which it said was more likely to be approved.

'The application is to erect up to 25 small and quiet vertical wind turbines that will be set a maximum height to achieve planning consent where taller proposed wind turbines have failed,' it said.

'The wind turbines will be set at such a height as can be obtained within the constraints of planning permissions.'

The council originally set a target of reaching a decision in September 2020 but it said a lack of information had been submitted with the plans, delaying progress.

'While the agent for the development, originally approached the council in April 2020 with some initial information for the stationing of wind turbines at the port, there were significant gaps with the information provided as well as some inconsistency within the application,' a spokesman for the council said. 'In November 2020 one of the applications made at that time was withdrawn.

'Council officers worked with the agent and advised and supported them to make a valid application with sufficient information in June of this year.

'The public consultation period for this proposal, at the instigation of the applicant, ran from early August, to the end of September.

'While there are still some elements of the application that require additional work, the council is assessing the proposal following the completion of public consultation in October.'

City council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said delays in reaching a decision had been exacerbated by government policies that discouraged the installation of onshore wind power.

Last year Cllr Vernon-Jackson requested that the turbine scheme be considered by the council's planning committee before a decision is made.

Mike Sellers, port director at Portsmouth International Port said: ‘We’re working closely with the local planning authority on our application for wind turbines at the port, so they have all the information they need to determine the outcome. The wind turbines are just one part of our plan, along with solar, battery and hydrogen technology, to provide shore power for ships, make the port carbon neutral by 2030 and become the UK’s first zero-emission port by 2050.’