The UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero has granted a Development Consent Order (DCO) for the Five Estuaries offshore wind farm, owned by a consortium led by RWE.
Five Estuaries is a proposed extension to the existing, operational 353 MW Galloper offshore wind farm in the UK and is part of the Crown Estate’s Capacity Increase Programme, which aims to maximise the potential of existing offshore wind lease areas.
The extension is to be located in the southern North Sea across two seabed areas covering approximately 128 square kilometres.
Five Estuaries is consented to comprise up to 79 wind turbines, with a maximum tip height of 370 metres, plus foundations.
The offshore wind farm is being developed with a potential maximum installed generation capacity of 1,080MW, capable of powering up to 1 million typical UK homes, according to RWE, which noted that the next steps will be to fine-tune the final project design in line with consent conditions.
Under the approved plans, electricity generated by the offshore wind farm would be transmitted ashore via subsea cables to Sandy Point, located between Frinton-on-Sea and Holland-on-Sea in Essex. From there, underground cables will connect to a new substation west of Little Bromley, eventually joining the East Anglia Connection Node on the proposed National Grid’s Norwich–Tilbury transmission corridor.
The project will seek a route to market ahead of the financial decision and the start of construction, RWE says.
Five Estuaries is owned by RWE (33.33 per cent), a Macquarie-led consortium (25 per cent), ESB (20.83 per cent) and Sumitomo Corporation (20.83 per cent), with RWE leading the development of the project on behalf of the project partners.