Equinor has launched a community consultation to seek local views on its plans to extend its existing wind farms off the Norfolk coast. The company currently operates two wind farms from Norfolk, Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm. Called the Sheringham and Dudgeon Extension Projects, these new wind farms will be built adjacent to the existing wind farms, bringing the total capacity up to 1.44GW.
Cables from the Extension Projects will come ashore at Weybourne, before being installed in a trench heading south towards a new onshore substation near to the existing National Grid Norwich Main Substation.
This first phase of community consultation runs from 9 July until 20 August 2020, and in particular feedback is being sought regarding the location of the site for the onshore substation, the route to be taken by the underground onshore cables and any lessons that can be taken from the earlier construction of both the Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farms. Equinor has published a Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC) which sets out how the company will be engaging with the local Norfolk community to ensure that they can provide comments and feedback on the plans as they develop.
A second phase of community consultation will be held in Spring 2021 when the company will be presenting its refined plans, inviting comments to its Preliminary Environmental Report (PEIR) and providing additional information including visualisations of what the Extension Projects will look like onshore and from the coast. Equinor intends to submit the Development Consent Order application by the end of 2021.