Berwick Bank offshore wind farm to be connected to national grid at Blyth
It will connect the UK’s largest offshore windfarm to the national grid
Proposals that would see clean energy from the UK’s largest offshore windfarm exported into the national grid in Northumberland have been approved.
Energy giant SSE Renewables had applied for outline planning permission to build the necessary infrastructure to transfer the power into the national grid on land between Cambois and Blyth. The planning application included the installation of a cable landfall, export cables, a converter station and other infrastructure.
The system would carry power from the Berwick Bank wind farm, located in the outer Firth of Forth, to the Blyth substation where it would then be transferred into the national grid. An additional grid connection is also proposed in East Lothian.
Outline planning permission allows developers to receive feedback from the council on whether a proposed development is acceptable “in principle”. Outline applications are less detailed than full planning permission, and allow the applicant to get feedback on the scale and nature of the development, while leaving the specifics to be decided later
A further planning application will be need to be submitted before the development is constructed, with issues such as appearance and access still undecided.
Speaking at Thursday’s meeting of Northumberland County Council’s strategic planning committee, local ward councillor Alex Wallace praised SSE’s work in bringing forward the application.
He said: “SSE have been exemplary with the community. They have had meetings with great regularity with the parish council, and held a public event.
“I was offered a private meeting to discuss any issues. They really have been exemplary and helpful. I can only see this being a great benefit to the Cambois area.”
The Berwick Bank wind farm is located 39km off the coast of Scotland. It has the potential to deliver up to 4.1GW of capacity – making it one of the largest offshore opportunities in the world. It will be capable of generating enough renewable energy to power over six million homes.
The plans were unanimously approved by the committee.
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