Following a review of feedback received from recent meetings with stakeholders, government officials and members of the public, the proposed North Falls Offshore Wind Farm, located in the southern part of the North Sea, near the southeastern coast of England, has made a number of key project changes.
North Falls is a proposed extension to the existing 504 MW Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm. It comprises an offshore array area of 37 square miles off the East Anglia coast and a proposed onshore grid connection in Tendring, Essex. Prior to the meetings, it comprised two offshore array areas totaling 58 square miles.
As a result of the meetings, the most significant change to the project is dropping the northern offshore wind farm array area from its plans, which will reduce both its visibility from shore and its offshore footprint, resulting in benefits for marine users such as fisheries and shipping.
Removing that array also means that the wind farm’s closest point to shore will now be 26 miles, rather than the previous 13 miles, making it much less visible, particularly from the Suffolk coast.
Other changes being implemented include reducing the number and maximum height of the project’s wind turbines, working more closely with adjacent project Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm and continuing with an offshore grid connection option as part of its proposals.
A joint venture company owned equally by SSE Renewables and RWE is North Falls Offshore Wind Farm’s developer. The revised proposals will be submitted as part of the development consent order application next year.
