As we draw towards the end of the year, we are busy working on our plans for Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm, ahead of presenting our developed proposals at our next consultation, early in the new year.
This next stage of consultation is what is known as ‘statutory’ consultation under the Planning Act 2008. At this stage we will provide more detailed proposals and present our Preliminary Environmental Information Report. This report is the first output of the Environmental Impact Assessment process, which sets out the current environmental baseline, the Project’s potential benefits and impacts, and our proposals to mitigate those impacts.
To inform our plans we have been carrying out numerous surveys and assessments across the proposed development area.
We thank landowners for their assistance in providing access over the summer for our onshore ecology surveys, which are now largely complete. These included dormouse, bat, and reptile surveys along with several other species.
Over the winter months our surveyors will be continuing with onshore bird surveys and geophysical archaeological surveys across the onshore route.
We have also been undertaking noise and traffic surveys.
Offshore we continue to progress our environmental impact assessments on matters including marine ecology and shipping and navigation.
We will be using all this data to assist with our environmental assessment.
Wind Week 2022
The RenewableUK Wind Week 2022 was held from 25 to 28 October, hosted by the East of England Energy Group within this region.
The week involved a series of events aimed at businesses, local communities, and inspiring young people to consider careers in wind. It also presented supply chain companies with an excellent opportunity to network with industry leaders and to receive the latest updates on all offshore wind projects in the region.
At the Friday conference I provided an update on the Five Estuaries Project and the potential benefits that we hope it could create in the area.
It was great to see so much happening in the East of England and so many opportunities for young people and businesses, as well as investment in local communities.
With the increasing need for the UK to produce low cost, clean and renewable electricity, supporting the UK’s net zero targets and delivering energy security, the delivery of these projects is essential.
This region is already producing over 5GW of renewable energy through both onshore and offshore wind which could increase to over 15GW in the coming years. This means thousands of local jobs and would make the East of England a leader in renewable energy generation.
Get in Touch
If you have any questions about the project, you can email us at fiveestuaries@rwe.com or call us on 0333 880 5306.