ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) is to add an additional phase of consultation for their East Anglia TWO and East Anglia ONE North offshore wind farm projects.
During the development of SPR’s proposals, the company has been working with EDF Energy to explore the possibility of using land on the Sizewell B estate to place the onshore substations required.
This land is proposed to be used as a site to translocate protected wildlife in preparation for the Sizewell C development and EDF Energy has been working in recent years with Suffolk Wildlife Trust and Natural England to establish this land as an agreed ecological mitigation area.
The additional consultation phase (Phase 3.5) will specifically investigate the potential of locating the onshore substations for the project on the Sizewell Estate land known as Broom Covert, Sizewell as an alternative to the site north of Friston known as Grove Wood, Friston.
This follows continued dialogue with EDF Energy, with local communities and with Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Coastal District Council. The Broom Covert site is situated within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Phase 3.5 will run from 29 September until 29 October 2018, and follows the completion of Phase 3, which asked for views on the Indicative Onshore Development Area and mitigation relating to a connection to Grove Wood, Friston.
“Our initial feedback from local authorities and from EDF Energy advised that the Sizewell Estate was not available for our project to utilise, due to its location within the AONB and future developments already planned to support Sizewell C,” David Walker , Development Director at ScottishPower Renewables, said.
”However, recent requests from local authorities have indicated that SPR should explore this land further, and we have continued our positive engagement with EDF Energy to see if the land could be made available. We are committed to exploring all options fully, and this additional stage of consultation will focus specifically on the Broom Covert site.”
The two projects, East Anglia TWO and East Anglia ONE North with a capacity of 900MW and 800MW respectively, follow on from the 714MW East Anglia ONE project that is currently in construction and the 1,200MW East Anglia THREE scheme, which received planning consent last year.