Onshore cabling work to start as East Anglia One windfarm project takes further step forward

Charlie Jordan of ScottishPowerRenewables (Image: Archant)

East Anglia One, 26 miles off Lowestoft, will consist of 102 turbines capable to supplying enough power for more than 500,000 homes.

The cable route to carry power from the windfarm runs for around 52 miles to a landfall at Bawdsey, near Felixstowe, and for a further 23 miles underground to a substation at Bramford, near Ipswich.

Murphy has been named as onshore cable civils contractor to carry out work including trench excavation, duct installation, reinstatement and connections to sections of the route to be created by horizontal drilling.

The work is likely to begin early October and is expected to be finished by the end of summer next year.

East Anglia One survey work on River Deben, close to where the cable will come ashore at Bawdsey. (Image: Archant)

Vince Bowler, power sector director at Murphy, said: “This is a great win for Murphy, and follows on from our previous successful experiences of working with ScottishPower and also recently with DONG Energy on their wind farms at Walney and Hornsea.

“We’ve learnt a lot from those schemes and are looking forward to increasing our productivity on site through improved processes and innovation.”

Charlie Jordan, East Anglia One project director at ScottishPower Renewables, added: “We look forward to working with Murphy. Very early on we decided that the onshore connection would be underground, and we are confident that Murphy will help to successfully deliver this important aspect of the project.

“Construction work is already underway at our substation in Bramford, and overall the project is progressing well. Offshore work will start next year, and the windfarm will be fully operational during 2020.”