Britain has granted planning consent to RWE’s 1.1-gigawatt Five Estuaries offshore wind farm off the coast of East Anglia, marking the fifth UK offshore project to secure approval so far this year.
UK Energy Minister Alan Whitehead approved the development, which will comprise 79 turbines and act as an extension to the existing 353-megawatt Galloper wind farm.
The decision follows a series of recent approvals, including RWE’s 1.2-gigawatt Rampion 2 project in April, the 1.5-gigawatt Mona and 1.5-gigawatt Morgan schemes developed by JERA Nex bp and EnBW in July and August, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ 480-megawatt Morecambe project earlier this month.
A ruling on Five Estuaries had been expected by Dec. 17 after the original September deadline was extended to allow further consultation on environmental management and monitoring issues raised by Natural England.
The project application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in March 2024 and accepted for examination the following month. Evidence considered during the examination included submissions from ScottishPower Renewables on measures to mitigate potential wake effects on its neighbouring 960-megawatt East Anglia 2 wind farm.
According to project documents, Five Estuaries “is due to connect to the National Grid’s East Anglia Connection Node, near Lawford in Essex, in October 2030”.
Several aspects of the scheme, including the export cable landfall and onshore route, have been coordinated with the proposed 1-gigawatt North Falls offshore wind farm being developed by RWE and SSE Renewables, which is awaiting a final planning decision early next year.
Five Estuaries was eligible to participate in the UK government’s Allocation Round 7 support auction.
