The UK has given Denmark’s Dong Energy a green light to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm off its coasts. Price-tagged at £6bn, the project will be able to provide low carbon electricity to around 1.6 million homes.

Dong will now make a final investment decision on the project before construction is due to start in 2020, but there is currently no timeline for the decision, a spokesperson tells GTR.

The Hornsea Project Two, which will be located off the coast of Yorkshire, will have a capacity of up to 1.8GW and consist of 300 turbines that will connect to the North Killingholme grid.

The wind farm will create up to 1,960 construction jobs and 580 operational and maintenance jobs, says the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The approval comes after the UK government’s abrupt decision to review the new £18bn nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point, and the new prime minister, Theresa May’s, decision to scrap the former energy and climate change department. A UK decision on Hinkley Point C, which is to be constructed by France’s EDF Energy and China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), was expected this July but has now been pushed back to early autumn.

Both moves have led to speculation about the direction energy and foreign investment policy will take under Theresa May.

Commenting on the wind farm decision, business and energy secretary, Greg Clark, says: “Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we’re determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy, which means jobs and economic growth right across the country.”

The UK government says it is making £730mn of financial support available for renewable electricity generation and expects 10 GW of offshore wind to be installed by the end of this decade.