The company behind plans to create the first offshore windfarm in the Isle of Man’s territorial waters have said that the project will aim to have a ‘net positive’ impact on the island’s environment.

The planned scheme is currently the early stages of development after Ørsted and the Isle of Man Government signed an agreement for lease at the end of 2015.

The deal allows Ørsted to undertake investigations in part of the Isle of Man’s territorial sea, specifically in an area located around six to 12 nautical miles off Maughold Head, on the east coast of the island.

During a public consultation regarding the wind farm which took place in Douglas last week, representatives from Ørsted said they intend to weigh up environmental concerns that may be associated with the project.

Benj Sykes, head of environment, consenting and external affairs at Ørsted, said: ‘To put it in a nutshell, we are committing to leaving the marine environment in a better state after we've built and operated our wind farm than the state it was in when we arrived.

‘How we will do that very much depends on the biodiversity and the ecosystem where we're building the wind farm, and where the cable route goes. It's too early to say what specific actions we'll take, but in essence, we are committed to leave the environment in a better state than we will find it in.’

Watch our full interview with Orsted over the windfarm plans by clicking through the playlist below - there are 13 videos in total to watch

Benj acknowledge that there is currently a global climate crisis, and that Ørsted is doing all it can to help with this across a number of its projects.

He continued: ‘At Ørsted, we made a commitment three years ago that we would deliver all of our projects commissioned after 2030 to have a “net positive” impact on biodiversity.

‘It's a huge challenge. There's a load of pilot programs we're running around the world in Europe, Southeast Asia and North America to learn what we can actually do on the ground, more specifically in the sea, to deliver those positive biodiversity outcomes.’

Ørsted development director for the Isle of Man, John Galloway, also stated that the creation of the offshore wind farm would give the Isle of Man ‘greater control’ over its own power.

He said: ‘For me, energy security is about providing your own and being in control of it, and having the island's first offshore wind farm connected to the Isle of Man and other parts of the UK (while making a good bit of revenue) does give some control to the island.

‘I think what people need to keep in mind is that the existing energy plant we've got in the island is going to come to the end of its life in the next ten years - there's no getting away from what's happening at Pulrose. It's a gas power station, and it will need to be replaced with something.

‘We've got a chance now to make some decisions in the island about what that might look like.’

It has not yet been decided how many wind turbines there will be as part of the project due to the ongoing public consultation.

Up to 100 turbines were initially earmarked as part of the proposals, but Orsted have emphasised that the exact number of turbines will be made clearer when members of the Manx public fill in ‘feedback forms’.

John added: ‘We’ve got visualisations and layouts of our maximum design scenario, which also assesses the environmental impact that design would have.

‘We’ll take the feedback and then look at the plans and refine them accordingly. There's a reason consultation is happening this summer, because we need the time between the end of summer and our next application in the spring to refine and design what we'll put forward.

‘The number of turbines will also depend on conversations we’re having with other stakeholders, whether that's fisheries, shipping, navigation - there's a lot of people in the marine space we've got to engage with and make sure we're satisfying any concerns they've got.’

You can have your say on the plans by taking part in the community consultation - it closes on September 11.