The need for a study into the potential threat to the red-throated diver, a type of waterfowl, has forced developers to scrap a project to expand the world's largest offshore wind farm, Britain's London Array.

 

The consortium of Denmark's Dong Energy, Germany's E.ON and Abu Dhabi state-owned energy investor Masdar joined a growing list of companies scaling back plans to build new offshore wind capacity in Britain.

 

An assessment of the potential impact to birdlife from construction of the project in the Thames Estuary would take at least three years, the group said on Wednesday, citing the delay, the cost and the added risk.

 

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said it had worked with London Array to ensure its initial development would not harm wildlife in the area but "raised concerns over the second phase of the London Array because of the displacement impact on the (bird breed) red-throated diver".

 

The project would have added 200 megawatts of capacity to the existing 630 MW wind farm.

 

It also would have affected 38 percent of the red-throated diver's UK wintering grounds, the RSPB said. The bird's UK wintering population totals 17,000 and is in decline, according to the RSPB website.

 

The decision to scrap it was due to "technical challenges and the environmental uncertainties surrounding the site", the group said.