Fewer underground cables in offshore wind farm hubs

OFFSHORE wind farms will have fewer onshore cables and substations as part of a government push to get coastal communities on side and turn the UK into an exporter of renewable electricity.

Every offshore wind farm requires its own connections to the grid through cables, substations and pylons, which have caused concern among local residents, who say they spoil the landscape. The Government now wants to enable more wind farms to connect to each other, reducing the number of onshore connections by about 30 per cent.

Up to 2,000 new wind farms could be needed, the majority of them offshore, to hit the government target of quadrupling offshore wind power in the next eight years and turning the electricity grid “clean” by 2035. The plans are also the first step in allowing the UK to export its excess wind power, and import more when needed.

Two former energy secretaries have called for compensation to be paid to coastal communities that host offshore wind infrastructure. Andrea Leadsom and Amber Rudd warned there was “a significant risk” of local backlash to onshore infrastructure that could derail the development of offshore wind farms. In February last year the Government lost a challenge in the High Court to stop the development of one of the world’s largest wind farms off the coast of Norfolk. The case had been brought by a local resident worried about the impact of the planned underground cables. The judge said the Government had failed to consider the “cumulative impacts” of the development.

A group called Suffolk Energy Action Solutions is considering a judicial review of the development of a substation near the medieval village of Friston, which they say will be three times the size of Wembley.

Speaking about the plans, Greg Hands, the energy minister, said: “Multi-purpose interconnectors could ease offshore wind development, by establishing a future generation of offshore connection hubs.”

However, countryside groups said the plans would not allay concerns over offshore infrastructure. “New onshore transmission routes, such as the new pylon line from Norwich to Tilbury ... should be buried underground,” Tom Fyans, of CPRE, the countryside charity, said. Fiona Gilmore, of Suffolk Energy Action Solutions, added: “We want to see offshore integration at sea using the latest technology, carrying energy to an offshore platform, which takes it to a brownfield site.”