Abstract
This study has been commissioned by Rudall Blanchard Associates Ltd (RBA) to support the Environmental Impact Assessment being prepared for Eclipse Energy with regard to the Ormonde Project. RBA are preparing a Scoping Study leading to the Environmental Statement for development Consent.
The proposed Ormonde Project will combine the electricity generating capacity of natural gas and wind, centred on two small, undeveloped gas fields and an offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea, approximately 10km off Walney Island. The development will include up to thirty wind turbines with inter-connecting cables, a Gas Turbine Platform (GTP), a Sub Station Platform (SSP) and export cables. The development site lies to the northwest of the already Consented Barrow OWF. Three alternative export cable routes are considered, with the landfall within Half Moon Bay north of Heysham Harbour.
HR Wallingford has undertaken a desk study of the coastal and seabed processes to set out the existing state of knowledge and to assess the potential impact of the development in accordance with the CEFAS Guidance Notes 2004. The assessment takes account of any cumulative impacts arising from the nearby Consented Barrow Offshore Windfarm and from the potential Shell Flats, West of Duddon and Walney Offshore Windfarms. No new modelling has been undertaken to support this work, but geophysical and geotechnical survey information has been derived from the recent work undertaken by Gardline Geosurvey Ltd.
It is considered that the proposed scheme is likely to have some localised impact on the waves, currents and corresponding sediment transport regime in the immediate vicinity of the development and cabling, but is unlikely to have any significant or measurable far field impacts. The proximity to the adjacent proposed and potential windfarm sites will not result in any cumulative impacts with regard to foundations or cabling.