The Rhyl Flats project was initially developed by Celtic Offshore Wind Limited (COWL) as part of the UK's Round 1 offshore wind farm programme.

COWL received consent for the project in 2002, and in December 2002 the project was purchased by Npower Renewables (formerly National Wind Power and now a part of Innogy, a subsidiary of the German firm RWE), who were also developing the neighbouring North Hoyle and Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farms.

Offshore construction work at Rhyl Flats began in July 2007.

The Round 1 projects were intended to act as testbeds; building the UK's understanding of offshore wind, whilst in total also providing well over 1000 MW of green generating capacity for the UK.

At the time of installation, Rhyl Flats is expected to generate enough electricity to power 60,000 homes on average.