Introduction to Rampion 2 Public Consultation

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What is a wind farm?

A wind farm project is made up of several major physical components:

Foundations to support the wind turbines
Wind turbines to generate the power
Inter-array cables to connect power from the turbines to an offshore substation
Offshore substation(s) to step up the voltage before transmission to shore
Offshore export cables to take the power under the seabed, to shore
Landfall – where the offshore cables come ashore to connect to the onshore cables
Onshore cable circuits – to transport the power underground to the final connection point
An onshore substation – stepping the power up to a high voltage to connect to the transmission grid or, ‘electron motorway’

Every physical component is integral to a wind farm project and without any one of these the wind farm wouldn’t work. Each individual component requires a different section of land or sea and each has unique engineering and environmental challenges.

If a project of the scale of Rampion 2 is to be successfully consented and built, the physical components must be collectively designed such that they work together as a unit, while being individually assessed to mitigate and minimise impacts on the environment and the community.

The first step in the development process was to understand hard or fixed constraints, which cannot be overcome. These constraints may restrict a particular project component to a specified location or may prevent a project component from being located in a particular local area. This allowed Areas of Search to be developed for the offshore and onshore project components.

The results of further technical and environmental surveys, coupled with engagement with key stakeholders, has allowed the refinement of initial proposals put forward in January, to now form our draft proposals for formal public consultation.

Climate change, energy targets and the need for wind power

The UK Government has formally declared a Climate Emergency.

UK Government target for offshore wind

40 Gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity by the end of this decade. This equates to a quadrupling of offshore wind capacity from 10gigawatts (GW) in 2020, to 40GW by 2030.

Climate change

UN IPCC Climate Scientists say we have until the end of the decade to keep warming below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, to prevent catastrophic and irreversible impacts on climate change.

Securing our energy supplies

Around 5% of UK electricity is still generated by coal but this is going to be phased out in the next 2 – 3 years and requires clean and green energy to replace it.

Electric vehicles and hydrogen

Great strides have recently been taken in securing a greener future for transport, aviation and heating, through advancements in battery technology and applications for hydrogen fuel. However, these technologies are only carbon neutral if the electricity needed to charge batteries and generate hydrogen, comes from renewable energy sources.

Why off the Sussex coast?

There are 40 offshore wind farms around the UK. Only one of these is off the south coast – Rampion. Yet the south east of England is one of the most densely populated regions in Europe and therefore has a massive electricity demand, so it makes sense to generate the power where the demand centre is located.

Did you know?

Wind is now an essential renewable resource for powering our modern world with clean, green energy and the UK is the European and World leader in offshore wind generation.

The UK is the windiest country in Europe
Wind energy is the second largest power source in the UK, currently supplying over 20% of the UK’s electricity, split roughly 50:50 between onshore and offshore wind farms
With the larger scale of offshore wind and increased competition in the marketplace, the cost of offshore wind has halved in just the last 2 – 3 years
In 2019, UK wind energy powered the equivalent of nearly 18 million (m) homes and reduced CO2 emissions by nearly 29m tonnes, with 14m tonnes from offshore wind alone
In 2020, UK wind power provided 40% of our electricity on one day and contributed to a record 67 days in a row of coal-free electricity generation
The offshore wind industry aims to double jobs to over 27,000 and invest nearly £50billion in UK infrastructure by 2030.

Find out more about climate change, the history of electricity and wind energy technology, at our Rampion Visitor Centre: www.rampionoffshore.com/visitor-centre

What difference could Rampion 2 make?

The existing Rampion project:

Supplies clean, green electricity for the equivalent of almost 350,000 homes, that’s around half the homes in the whole of Sussex
Saves around 600,000 tonnes of CO2 every year

Technological advancement

Wind turbine technology has rapidly advanced in recent years, producing much more power per unit, such that the power output for the scheme could be three times that of the operating Rampion project.

Rampion 2 could:

Produce clean, green electricity for the
equivalent of over 1 million homes!
Save around 1.8million tonnes of CO2 each year

Rampion 2 is the only wind farm proposal off the UK’s south coast and can make a significant contribution to tackle climate change and meet Government targets to quadruple offshore wind capacity by the end of the decade.

Rampion has already:

Employed 65 full time, permanent staff at the Operations Base in Newhaven Port
Supported 8 students on our graduate scheme and took on 8 apprentices by 2019, some of whom are now fully qualified turbine technicians
Acted as a catalyst for the regeneration of Newhaven Port
Spent £1.6 million to support 114 community projects from our £3.1 million Rampion Fund, benefiting almost 1 million people across Sussex, with the remaining Fund available until 2027
Opened a Visitor Centre on Brighton seafront, which is free for all, to tell the climate, energy and Rampion story in a fun and engaging way

Rampion 2 will aim to promote jobs and apprenticeships locally, utilising local businesses and suppliers where possible, and will consider the scope and value for an additional community fund

Scope of the consultation

The consultation has been designed to ensure that people have the opportunity to express their views and contribute to the evolving design of the Rampion 2 project.

This is the primary opportunity to provide your feedback on our draft proposals and associated environmental information, to be able to influence our final proposals which will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate early next year.

We want to hear from you

In order to ensure the construction and operation of Rampion 2 minimises impacts on the environment and local communities, we have completed a Preliminary Environmental Impact Report (PEIR), which forms the basis of the proposals we are consulting on now.

We encourage anyone who has an interest in the project to give their views about how the Rampion 2 proposals may benefit or impact you. We would greatly appreciate your feedback on:

our preliminary assessment of the onshore and offshore environmental, community and economic impacts and proposed mitigation measures to avoid or reduce impacts;
our early thinking on building the project and the measures we plan to put in place to minimise the impacts of construction on local communities;
the merits or disbenefits of substation and cable route alignment proposals where there are options being considered.

Have your say

We are keen to hear from you about the merits of the proposals or the relative merits of options, to help further shape our proposals, prior to us submitting a development consent application in early 2022.

The best way to give your feedback is by using the Consultation Response Form.

Consultation responses will also be accepted via email at rampion2@rwe.com or post to:

Rampion 2 – Consultation Response, Greenwood House, Westwood Way, Westwood Business Park, Coventry, CV4 8PB.

If replying via these channels, please be sure to clearly state that your communication is a consultation response, and provide your name, post code and email address.

Contact us

Phone or email

Should you have any questions or points of clarification about the project or consultation, you can: Email us at Call us on our Freephone number

Join a public forum

Should you wish to listen to a presentation and ask questions to members of the Project Team, please visit and book at rampion2.com/consultation-events

We're committed to equality

If you or your organisation need assistance reading or understanding the consultation documents please contact us to discuss your requirements. Translation of key documents to other languages, large print, audio or braille format may be arranged on request.

COVID-19 restrictions

We are all working in unusual times and while we would much prefer to meet you face to face, we have had to close our Worthing Office since March 2020 and unfortunately, we are unable to hold public exhibitions as we did for the original Rampion project.

Next steps timeline

*Please note that this is based on our anticipated programme at the time of the Formal Consultation held from 14 July to 16 September 2021. It is now subject to change to account for additional feedback received during the reopened consultation period from 7 February to 11 April 2022. We will share our updated indicative timescales at the earliest opportunity.

Analyse consultation feedback, determine onshore substation site selection, further refine proposals, produce Consultation Report and detailed Environmental Statement, setting out how we will mitigate any impacts.

Sep - Dec 2021

Indicative timing for formal consent application.Q1 2022

Consent Examination Process.Q2 2022 - mid 2023

This is when the decision on consent may be expected. Should consent be awarded, the following stages would follow below...

End 2023

Earliest possible investment approval date

End 2024

Earliest possible construction work commences.

2025 / 2026

Rampion 2 project fully operational and connected to the grid.

2028 / 2029

Meet the team

Thank you for taking the time to participate in our consultation!

We would like to build on our existing relationships from the Rampion project, while also reaching new communities who weren’t so involved the first time around, to become a long-term, good neighbour of the Sussex community.

Introduction to Rampion 2 Public Consultation

Factsheet Contents

What is a wind farm?