The UK Government has granted development consent for the £4.8 billion Mona offshore wind farm, a major renewable energy project to be built in the Irish Sea.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has officially signed off the development consent order for the project, which will be located entirely within Welsh waters. The wind farm will be positioned approximately 28.8 km from the north coast of Wales, 46.9 km from the north-west coast of England, and 46.6 km from the Isle of Man.

The project includes a landfall point near Llanddulas in Conwy, North Wales, with grid connection planned via the existing National Grid substation at Bodelwyddan in Denbighshire.

Mona is being delivered by a joint venture between BP Alternative Energy Investments Limited and German energy company Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW). Front-end engineering design is being provided by Kent.

Once completed, the development will feature up to 96 turbines capable of generating approximately 1.5GW of electricity – enough to power more than a million homes. The scheme will also include four offshore substation platforms up to 60 metres in height, along with a network of offshore interconnector, inter-array and export cables. The turbine rotor diameters will measure 320 metres, with a maximum blade tip height of 364 metres.

The onshore infrastructure includes underground cabling and a new onshore substation to facilitate grid integration.

The estimated £4.8bn cost encompasses all aspects of the development, including project management, financing, land acquisition, and construction.

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