East Anglia Offshore Wind (EAOW), a joint venture owned 50:50 by ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall, is holding a second series of consultations regarding the required onshore work for East Anglia ONE, an offshore wind farm 43km off the coast of Suffolk.
East Anglia ONE will consist of up to 325 offshore wind turbines to provide an installed capacity of around 1,200MW – enough electricity to power the annual needs of more than 800,000 homes.
To connect the proposed offshore wind farm to the national grid system, approximately 70km of offshore cable route and 37km of onshore cable route is required. An onshore converter station adjacent to the existing substation at Bramford will also be required.
ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall outlined their plans to bury the cables last year. This was followed by a second round of consultation in February this year, which included details of the refined route.
This stage of the consultation aims to provide local communities along the cable route with further details on the proposed route, building on the public consultations in February this year. Specifically, there will be information on the cable routing proposed, and the proposed construction methods. Project engineers will be on hand to discuss their plans on the following days:
Andy Paine , Programme Director at East Anglia Offshore Wind , said: “To reduce the visual impacts of the work, we have already established that all onshore cables will be undergrounded and the converter station will be located adjacent to the existing substation at Bramford.
“We have now been able to develop our plans beyond the initial route corridors that we were investigating, and we have made every effort to minimise any potential impacts for communities surrounding the cable route. We have also been working closely with a range of environmental organisations to ensure that our work will not adversely affect wildlife in the area.
“We look forward to speaking to as many members of the community as possible, as all comments and feedback are important to developing our plans.”
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Offshore WIND staff, July 1, 2012; Image: East Anglia Offshore Wind