ScottishPower Renewables has selected Grove Wood, Friston, as an appropriate location for the development of the onshore substations required for its East Anglia TWO and East Anglia ONE North offshore wind farms.
Image: ScottishPower selects onshore substation location for East Anglia One and Two projects. Photo: Courtesy of sandi baker/FreeImages.com
ScottishPower Renewables stated that this decision has been taken after additional consultation for the projects, which was in parallel to the proposals for the Grove Wood, Friston site. Broom Covert, Sizewell was also considered as an alternative site.
The consultation phase was conducted between 29 September and 12 November this year. The company received nearly 600 responses, related to both sites from the public, local interest groups and statutory stakeholders.
The consultation phase highlighted concerns related to the potential impact on the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and thus compliance with National Planning Statements.
The company stated that based on responses to the consultation and advice, it is of the view that the Grove Wood, Friston is the ideal location for electrical infrastructure needed to input the clean energy from the proposed wind farms into the grid network.
ScottishPower Renewables development director David Walker said: “We would like to thank everyone who responded to this latest phase of consultation. The feedback received has played an important part in helping us make this decision. After carefully reviewing all of the feedback, it was decided that the Grove Wood, Friston, site will remain as the preferred location for the substations.
“We are now looking at the key matters raised in relation to the Grove Wood site and we are considering how these influence our plans going forward. In early 2019 we will be launching Phase 4 of our consultation and we encourage as many people as possible to continue engaging with us on the next stage of our plans.”
The proposed East Anglia TWO and East Anglia ONE North offshore wind farms can generate enough clean electricity to power 1.5 million homes. The two projects with a capacity of 900MW and 800MW respectively, follow the 714MW East Anglia ONE project, which is presently being constructed and the 1.2GW East Anglia THREE project, which received planning consent last year.