Description
Rampion Offshore Wind is comprised of 116 Vestas V112-3.45 turbines and has a capacity of 400 MW which can power approximately 350,000 UK homes and reduce approximately 600,000 tonnes of emissions. The wind farm occupies an area of approximately 72 square kilometres.
The lease with The Crown Estate extends to 50 years. When the turbines are reaching the end of their natural working life (20-25 years), a decision will be made to refurbish with the same turbines or re-power the site.
Rampion Offshore Wind Limited has three shareholders. RWE Renewables UK, one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies, is the majority shareholder along with Enbridge, North America’s premier infrastructure company, and Equitix, investor, developer, and fund manager in infrastructure.
Location
Rampion Offshore Wind Farm is located in the English Channel between 13 and 25 km from the Sussex coast in the UK. It is situated off the coast of towns Worthing and Shoreham-by-Sea to the west.
The onshore cable for the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm, run 14 kilometres through the South Downs National Park to connect the wind farm with the new substation at Twineham.
The operation and maintenance of the wind farm is carried out from a purpose-built facility at Newhaven Port.
Licensing Information
- July 2014: Development Consent Awarded
- March 2013: Development Consent application submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for the examination phase
Additional licensing information can be found here.
Project Timeline
- November 2018: Fully Commissioned
- May 29, 2018: Operations & Maintenance Base Officially Opened
- November 26, 2017: First Power Generated and Delivered to the National Grid
- September 2017: Installation of All 116 Wind Turbines Completed
- April 2017: Offshore Substation Installed
- March 2017: First Wind Turbine Installed
- November 2016: Installation of All 166 Foundations Completed
- February 2016: Offshore Construction Start
- September 2015: Onshore Construction Start
- May 2015: Final Investment Decision
- 2014: Offtake Conditionally Secured
- January 2010: Site Exclusivity Obtained
Key Environmental Issues
Rampion has had ongoing engagement with commercial fisherman and charter boat owners since the early days of the project. Prior to construction, Rampion held an event for sea users to present information about the construction program and activity. An offshore fishing liaison officer was on board construction vessels throughout the works.
Working with ecology consultants for nearly four years, surveys of the natural habitats were carried out along the whole proposed onshore cable route and substation. By identifying the flora and fauna that could be affected by construction work, Rampion was able to put plans in place to protect it, as part of its Ecology and Landscape Management Plan. The surveys found areas of Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat, including chalk grassland, so to minimize the impact of construction special construction methods in these places were used.
Although there are several seabird species along the South Coast, an assessment of the potential impacts to birds by ornithological experts determined that the presence of the wind farm would not result in any significant impacts to birds in the area.
Prior to construction, surveys of birds, fish and shellfish, benthic and marine mammals were undertaken to identify the use of the area by marine life.
It was found that the Black Bream spawning at the Kingmere Reef Marine Conservation Zone were particularly sensitive to noise during foundation piling, and therefore the piling activities during the most sensitive breeding season (from April to July) were stopped.
Metadata Documents
Environmental Papers and Reports
- Decommissioning Programme for Rampion Offshore Wind Farm (Rampion Offshore Wind Limited 2018)
- Rampion Windfarm: Simultaneous piling assessment (HR Wallingford Ltd 2016)
- Rampion OWF - Geotechnical Survey, Revision 2 - Final Results Report (EGS Ltd. 2016)
- Rampion Offshore Wind Farm and connection works Examining Authority’s Report of Findings and Conclusions and Recommendation to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Walker et al. 2014)
Additional Rampion Offshore Wind data can be found on the Marine Data Exchange.