The company behind plans for an off-shore windfarm that will connect to the grid in South Holland has applied for a Development Consent Order from central government.
Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Farm is looking to build 100 turbines 33 miles off the Lincolnshire coast which would use underground cables to carry the power from the landfall site close to Anderby Marsh, and a new onshore substation at Surfleet Marsh.
The project, led by TotalEnergies, Corio Generation and Gulf Energy Development, will then connect into existing National Grid overhead transmission lines in the Weston Marsh area.
The decision on whether the certificate will be granted will be decided by the planning inspectorate by April 16.
If accepted the project will move to the examination stage. A panel of independent inspectors will conduct the examination of the application and make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who will make the decision, about whether the project should go ahead.
Outer Dowsing say the consultation over the 1.5 gigawatt farm held from November 2022 saw nearly 1,500 community members attending events.
A second consultation will take place as part of the examination stage.
Chris Jenner, Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind development director said: “The UK needs to reduce reliance on energy imports while also reducing our emissions. Upon completion, Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind will be one of the UK’s biggest wind farms stopping the equivalent of nearly two million tonnes of CO2 from entering our atmosphere every year.
“In addition to addressing climate change, we have an opportunity to build our new renewable power generation in a way that minimises disruption and maximises the benefit to the UK.
“This application is the culmination of many studies, surveys, community meetings and consultation events.
“We have taken on board feedback to design the project in the most environmentally sensitive way.”
More information is available here.
