As you may be aware, the Five Estuaries project is an extension to the now operational Galloper Offshore Wind Farm. The nearest point of the new proposed offshore wind farm site is approximately 37km from the Suffolk Coast. In order to connect the new wind farm to the national electricity network, National Grid has indicated to us that they would like us to connect to their proposed East Anglia Connection Substation south of Lawford in Essex, which is part of their East Anglia GREEN project.
The cable route to bring electricity generated from the new offshore wind farm to National Grid’s proposed substation is proposed to make landfall between Frinton-on-Sea and Holland-on-Sea in Tendring, Essex. From the landfall, the onshore cables will be laid underground to connect to a new Five Estuaries substation and then to connect to National Grid’s proposed substation nearby.
We are at an early stage of the development of the Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm and are keen to talk to and get feedback from the communities that we may affect as part of this project. Between 30 June and 12 August 2022, we are consulting on our search areas for the underground cables and the onshore substation. As this is non-statutory consultation on our early proposals particularly for our onshore infrastructure, we have focused our events and publicity in Tendring, along the potential cable route corridors. At the statutory consultation phase in early 2023, we will be seeking wider views on our proposals and the publicity and events will reflect this.
Although we’ll be further away than the existing Galloper wind farm, there will be some visibility of the offshore wind farm from the Suffolk Coast, and the information we’ve released included visualisations from locations along the coast in Suffolk. In the Autumn, we intend to engage with communities along the coast who may be able to see the proposed wind farm.
Here is a newsletter with more information about the project. You can view the consultation material at www.fiveestuaries.co.uk.