Plans to build huge wind farm extensions off the north Norfolk coast have cleared a major planning hurdle.
Planning officials at the Planning Inspectorate have accepted Equinor’s development consent order application for Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm Extensions. In all, the schemes would be capable of powering 785k homes.
The Sheringham scheme is for 23 turbines while Dudgeon is for 30. Both applications include offshore infrastructure with 40km and 62km cable corridors respectively. Both would have 60km of onshore cabling.
The Planning Inspectorate has accepted the schemes for examination - the fourth of six hoops the plans must go through to get the green light. During this stage, registered interested parties can provide more details about their views so that they can be considered by officials.
Developer Equinor says if the two schemes are built they will support more than 1800 full time equivalent (FTE) jobs a year across the UK and in East Anglia during the construction phase - and will also generate £340m in direct gross value added (GVA) at the building stage.
The full application will be on view at North Norfolk Council Offices, South Norfolk House until October 31 and Thorpe Lodge from November 1.
Equinor’s Project Director Kari Hege Mørk said they were "very pleased" with the decision.
“We will be offering our full co-operation to the Planning Inspectorate throughout the coming examination period," he added.
“As we have developed these projects over the last three years, we have sought to find ways to maximise local benefits and minimise disruption. We have consulted widely with the local community throughout the process, including two rounds of community consultation and a series of public information days, and we will continue to maintain proactive community communications throughout the examination period.”
Following public consultation, several design changes have been made to the scheme to offset local disruption, Equinor said. There will be "trenchless" crossing across A and B roads and 20 local roads, and a "haul" road will be built along the cable route to cut the number of access points and HGV movements. Various access points have been moved.
A statutory six week consultation lasting until November 14 will allow for people and groups to formally register their interest in the projects.
Equinor is the developer and operator of the Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farms, and the developer of the Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon extension projects, which are owned by various companies.
The Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm is owned by Equinor, Masdar and China Resources, and Sheringham Shoal is owned by Equinor, Equitix Offshore 5 - which is co-owned by Equitix and The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited (TRIG)) and a fund managed by Macquarie Asset Management.
The latest plans would double the capacity of the existing Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon wind farms, said a spokesman.
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