Vattenfall: Norfolk Sister Wind Farms Will Share Onshore Cable Corridor

Swedish energy firm Vattenfall has revealed a narrower search area for cables needed to carry power underground from the Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farms.

Earlier this year Vattenfall revealed a 700-metre search area for a 60-kilometre underground cable corridor north of Norwich.

Ahead of nine public information days in March and April, the wind farm developer has now informed local people of a refined 200-metre corridor for the underground cable and search areas for possible locations for a substation and other infrastructure.

And following local feedback, Vattenfall confirmed that the underground cable corridor will cater for both Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas, which this week is to register its interest with the planning authority responsible for processing large energy infrastructure proposals.

Ruari Lean, Vattenfall’s Project Manager for the 1.8GW Norfolk Vanguard, said: “Vattenfall hopes for the same strong turnout at the March and April public engagement events as we enjoyed last October. We have had a lot of interest in the wind farm and its onshore infrastructure. A lot of this interest, understandably, is about people’s concerns but also how we can maximise the value of any investment in the local area.”

Vattenfall plans to triple its offshore wind capacity across Europe to 7GW by 2025.

Vattenfall’s Project Manager for the 1.8GW Norfolk Boreas, Graham Davey, said: “Vattenfall’s Norfolk Boreas is the second major wind farm we are bringing forward off the Norfolk coast. We believe this project – along with Vanguard – can make a long term contribution to the region’s economy as well as produce clean, competitive power for the British consumer. We are all looking forward to talking about the two separate projects in March and April – particularly exploring opportunities along the underground cable corridor with Norfolk Vanguard.”

In January 2017, Vattenfall informed local people that it had narrowed the search area to 700 metres to enable focussed ecological works. Whilst those ecological works continue they will do so over the narrower search area to help determine the best siting of the underground infrastructure for both Norfolk Vanguard and Boreas.