Rampion 2 Offshore Wind Farm has selected the site for a new onshore electricity substation which would enable its connection to the national electricity network. This follows extensive local community consultation, engineering and environmental studies over the past year.
“We shortlisted two potential substation sites last year at Bolney Road/Kent Street and Wineham Lane North, both south of the A272 near Cowfold and Wineham. Following detailed studies, we have decided to proceed with the Bolney Road/Kent Street site, which we have now named ‘Oakendene’, as it is near to the Oakendene Industrial Estate east of Cowfold,” said Chris Tomlinson, Development and Stakeholder Manager for Rampion 2.
“Although the site is a bit further from the existing National Grid Bolney substation, it was found to be better overall from an engineering and environmental perspective than the more constrained site at Wineham Lane North.”
This would be the only permanent above-ground structure on land in the planning proposal for the Rampion 2 Offshore Wind Farm, which could power over one million homes1 in the UK and reduce carbon emissions by around 1.8 million tonnes2 per year.
There will be a further project update in the autumn to report on the offshore wind farm design, which is the subject of ongoing refinement, and the onshore electricity cable route required to bring the power from the proposed wind farm to the new Oakendene substation.
All the cables would be buried underground so this would be a temporary impact during construction, as the project is committed to reinstate the land back to its former condition as soon as possible after the works.
“We want to thank the local communities in Sussex for all the feedback that they have taken time to provide to us,” continued Chris Tomlinson.
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Media contact: Paula Seager, Natural PR, Email: paula@naturalpr.biz or Tel: 01273 857242
Notes to editors:
RAMPION 2 Background:
Rampion 2 is being developed by RWE, one of the UK’s most established and experienced renewable energy producers, RWE is one of the globally leading companies in offshore wind and a world leader in renewable energy production. It is developing the project on behalf of a joint venture company including a Macquarie-led consortium (comprising Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5, the Green Investment Group and the Universities Superannuation Scheme) and a subsidiary of Enbridge Inc. (a leading North American energy infrastructure company). Together with owners of the existing Rampion offshore Wind Farm they have signed an Agreement for Lease with The Crown Estate (managers of the seabed) securing an option to develop on the site.
References:
1 based on an average annual domestic household electricity consumption of 3,618 kWh (BEIS, Dec 2019)
2 the calculation made using a static figure of 446g/kWh representing the energy mix in the UK (BEIS, July 2020)