E.ON Shrinks Rampion Offshore Windfarm

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - A smaller final design for the first windfarm off the south coast of England has been decided at 116 turbines with a generating capacity of approximately 400-megawatts (MW).

The decision for the Rampion offshore windfarm off the Sussex coast was announced by the U.K. arm of German power company, E.ON (XETRA:EOAN) (Düsseldorf, Germany), and is at the smaller end of the proposed scale of the project that the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change gave the green light to in July. That permission covered the construction of a farm with between 100 and 175 turbines with a maximum potential output of up to 700 MW. For additional information, see July 24, 2014, article - Giant Rampion Offshore Windfarm Gets Green Light.

The windfarm is located 13 kilometres (km) off the Sussex coast at its nearest point and will cover an area of 72 square kilometers (km2). With turbines in the 3-4 MW range, they will measure around 140 metres high to the tip of the rotors and supply enough power for around 290,000 homes.

"Our final proposed windfarm design seeks to optimise the scheme in the best seabed conditions as part of our continuing drive to reduce the costs of offshore wind, explained Chris Tomlinson, E.ON Development Manager for the Rampion Wind Farm. "We're now finalising our construction plans and moving closer to being able to secure jobs during both construction and operation. We look forward to moving the project forward and to generating large scale renewable energy helping to secure future electricity supplies."

E.ON said the final design decision was based on its review of the results of extensive on-and-offshore engineering surveys, associated technical and cost implications, and commercial and environmental considerations raised by stakeholders during the examination of the development consent order application.

The turbines at Rampion will stand in water depths ranging from 19-50 metres while a 26.4km underground cable will be needed at landfall to connect to the National Grid's substation near Bolney Village. The windfarm will take approximately three years to construct and create up to 300 jobs. There will be 65 permanent jobs created at the operations base in Newhaven Port once the wind farm is commissioned and fully operational.

The project has received support from environmental groups, including Firends of the Earth.

Chris Todd, spokesperson for Friends of the Earth, said: "This is really good news as it brings us another step closer to reducing our carbon emissions here in Sussex. We also welcome the fact that E.ON has altered the size and layout of the wind farm which will dramatically reduce the visual impact from the Heritage Coast and the wider South Downs."

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