News

Secrets of the sea off East Anglia to be unveiled

One of the largest and most comprehensive studies of the seas off East Anglia is now completed and East Anglia Offshore Wind Ltd (EAOW) is to share its findings. 

These studies where undertaken as part of EAOW’s plans to develop the first of six windfarms capable of generating up to7200MW, in the Southern North Sea. 

The first project, East Anglia ONE, comprises 1200MW and the findings from extensive technological and environmental surveys, have been brought together in a formative part of the development application called the Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR). 

Information on how East Anglia ONE will connect to the grid network will also be included in the report.  This details the preferred onshore cable corridor for the undergrounding of the onshore cabling, the offshore cable corridor from the offshore substations to the coast, landfall points and preferred location of the onshore convertor station. 

This PEIR is now available for review and everyone from statutory consultees, interested parties and members of the public is invited to submit a response as part of the consultation process.  To ensure everyone is given plenty of time to respond, EAOW has extended the consultation period from 28 to 42 days (10th February to 30 March). 

As part of the consultation, members of the East Anglia ONE project team will be on hand at the following locations to answer any queries.  These are drop in events and there is no need to make an appointment. 

  • Monday 20 February        1 -7pm: The Hotel Victoria, Kirkley Cliff, Lowestoft, NR33 0BZ
  • Tuesday 21 February       1-7pm: Woodbridge Library, 4 New Street, Woodbridge, IP12 1DT
  • Wednesday 22 February  1-7pm: Bramford Church Rooms, Bramford, IP8 4AL
  • Thursday 23 February      1-7pm: The Orwell Hotel, Hamilton Road, Felixstowe, IP11 7DX.

The PEIR is also available to view throughout the consultation period at the following libraries:

-       Ipswich County Library

-       Lowestoft Library

-       Woodbridge Library

-       Hadleigh Library

-       Felixstowe Library

-       Great Yarmouth Library 

This consultation will enable all views to be considered and assist EAOW in further refining its proposals before submitting a final application to the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) in November 2012. 

Jason Martin, EAOW Programme Director, said:

“Our team has worked extremely hard in putting together and managing these extensive studies and we look forward to sharing and presenting our findings. 

“We’d like to encourage all interested parties to engage in the second phase of public consultation on our plans for East Anglia ONE. We are committed to listening to what the public and other local stakeholders think about our plans and answering any questions they might have.

"This is a remarkable project that offers significant potential benefits in terms of jobs, growth and investment for the region and we want to make sure local people are fully aware of what to expect.”

 East Anglia Offshore Wind, is a 50-50 joint venture between ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall.

 Vattenfall and ScottishPower Renewables won the right to develop the East Anglia zone in January 2010 from The Crown Estate following the third licensing round for offshore wind. The Zone has the potential to deliver 7,200 MW of offshore wind capacity, and would meet the equivalent electricity needs of up to five million UK households.

Ends

Notes to Editors:

  • East Anglia Offshore Wind Ltd is the joint-venture company, owned 50-50 between ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall AB.
  • The joint venture brings together two highly professional teams of experts in the wind energy industry with complementary skills and experience.
  • ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall currently operate offshore and onshore windfarms in the UK with a combined total of over 1,400 MW.
  • www.eastangliawind.co.uk   
  • ScottishPower Renewables is part of Iberdrola, the largest wind energy company in the world* with an installed capacity of 13,500 MW.
  • ScottishPower Renewables was the first developer in the UK to reach 1000 MW of installed wind capacity.ScottishPower Renewables is also developing another 2189 MW of offshore energy projects in the UK, the 389MW West of Duddon Sands zone and the 1800MW Argyll Array.

 ScottishPower Renewables is the largest operator of onshore wind energy in the UK, and operates Europe’s largest wind farm, Whitelee which was completed in May 2009.

  • www.scottishpowerrenewables.com
  • Vattenfall is a leading European energy company. It is Europe’s sixth largest generator of electricity and largest producer of heat. Its major customers are industrial plants, energy companies, municipalities, property companies and housing associations across northern Europe.
  • Vattenfall currently operates 836MW of offshore wind capacity around Europe, including Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, the world’s largest, and is close to completing the 150MW Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm off Barrow-in-Furness.
  • Vattenfall currently has 8,000MW of proposed Offshore projects in the pipeline, cementing its position as a leading Offshore wind developer in Europe.
  • www.vattenfall.co.uk and www.vattenfall.com  

*Source: Bloomberg/Emerging Energy Research. LLC

Thanet Offshore Windfarm Thanet Offshore Windfarm