During the Offshore Wind Week event in Lowestoft today (Friday 10th November), ScottishPower Renewables’ confirmed that construction work on East Anglia ONE’s onshore substation in Bramford has kicked-off, with involvement from a significant number of local businesses.
Whilst works can be seen in fields stretching the length of the 37km underground cable route, the main hive of activity is currently at the substation site in Bramford. The site is alive with activity, from designers overseeing the plans, to diggers clearing top soil and engineers constructing the main buildings. The new substation will distribute the electricity generated by East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm to homes and business across the UK.
ScottishPower Renewables has committed to ensuring that at least 50% of the £2.5bn project investment will be spent in the UK and as such is working with a raft of UK companies to complete the work. The developer, along with its main suppliers, is committed to ensuring companies and people across the East of England benefit from the delivery of the project.
There are numerous local companies involved in the project ranging from Bramford-based Palmer Group supporting with traffic management. Aggregate is being delivered by Kesgrave-based Tippers ‘R’ Us and Great Dunmow’s SRC Aggregates. Paving is being provided by Claydon based Toppesfield, as well as support from local estate agents, cleaning companies, builder’s merchants and many others.
Commencing construction of this key part of the windfarm infrastructure marks the first major onshore works and is an important milestone for the East Anglia ONE project. The underground cable route stretches from Bawdsey, where the power generated from the windfarm - approximately 30 miles off the coast - makes landfall, and connects to the National Grid in Bramford.
Scot Hewitt-Gudgin, from ScottishPower Renewables East Anglia ONE project management team, said: “We are really pleased to see the project progressing and providing jobs and investment locally and across the UK. It has always been our goal to work with as many local companies as possible, so it’s fantastic to have such a number involved in the construction of East Anglia ONE already. The offshore wind sector in the UK is booming and the East of England is right at the heart of it.
“Recently we were delighted to receive planning consent for our East Anglia THREE offshore windfarm. Like the record-breaking cost reductions seen in the industry recently, we are committed to continuing to reduce the cost of delivering clean, affordable, energy for the UK, whilst powering the economy with our commitment to UK content.”
Kevan Churchill, General Manager, Palmer Group said: “We have been working with the East Anglia ONE project team for the last year. It’s great to see so many local companies involved in such a big project. East Anglia ONE and the associated investment and jobs is really good news for Suffolk.
“We will be working on the project for the duration of the onshore construction works and at any one time we have between three and 16 local people working along the cable route undertaking traffic management services, providing signage and erecting fencing for site compounds. We are just one of a number of businesses able to support the construction of projects like this and in turn provide work for local people.”
The 102 turbine East Anglia ONE windfarm is the most cost effective offshore windfarm to go into construction in the UK. Once fully operational East Anglia ONE will provide enough clean energy to power the equivalent of almost 600,000 homes*, which is the majority of households in Suffolk and Norfolk.
A code of construction practice is in place and ScottishPower Renewables is working closely with Suffolk County Council and the Highways Agency to ensure these works are carried out safely and efficiently.
For more information on East Anglia ONE please visit www.spreastanglia.co.uk
ENDS
For further information please contact Sophie Fraser
Tel: 01394 646400 or email: eaone@pier-marketing.com
*Based on the following calculation: 714 MW (installed capacity) x 0.367 “offshore wind” average load factor (Digest of UK Energy Statistics) x 8,760 hours (hours per year)/3,900kwh (average domestic annual consumption) = 588,578 homes powered equivalent.
Notes to editors
About East Anglia ONE:
East Anglia ONE will see 102 wind turbines installed in the southern North Sea, approx. 30 miles off the coast. The overall investment will be in the region of £2.5 billion, and the project is planned to meet the annual electricity demands of the equivalent of 600,000 homes. Construction is planned to commence in 2017, with the first turbines installed by 2019, and hopes that the project will be fully operational during 2020.
East Anglia ONE Offshore Windfarm project is likely to include:
- Offshore wind turbines and foundations (102 wind turbines to provide an installed capacity of 714 megawatts).
- An offshore substation to collect the electricity from the turbines and transform it to a form suitable for transfer to shore.
- Two offshore export cables, each around 85 km in length, to transfer the electricity to shore.
- A landfall site with onshore transition pits to connect the offshore and onshore cables.
- Six onshore underground cables, each of around 37 km in length, to transfer the electricity from landfall to an onshore converter station.
- An onshore substation adjacent to the existing substation at Bramford, Suffolk, to connect the offshore windfarm to the National Grid.