Plans to build a power substation to serve a huge offshore wind farm have been submitted.
The station at Weston Marsh is one of two which will be part of the Outer Dowsing infrastructure in Lincolnshire.
The Substation A project is within the Grimsby to Walpole scheme which will also include 140km of new pylons across the Fens landscape.
The whole project is part of a massive upgrade to the nation’s energy distribution network – but this scheme met with fierce criticism.
The plans outline details for the first substation to be built in Marsh Road, north of Weston and close to Surfleet Seas End.
A 51-page design and access statement submitted with the application says that mitigation steps will be ‘over and above embedded and standard mitigation measures to reduce environmental effects.’
It also says there is ‘no realistic’ alternative to the site which will link Outer Dowsing, Meridian Solar Farm and the Ossion Wind Farm.
“The proposed Weston Marsh Substation A will serve as a critical connection point for several renewable energy projects,” says the document.
The application will be decided by South Holland District Council which received the details in the last few days.
There have been a number of consultation events around the proposal and the government backed the wind farm itself earlier this year.
Protest group Lincolnshire Against Needless Destruction (LAND) has campaigned against the construction of new pylons and infrastructure.
“We believe Lincolnshire deserves an energy future that protects its land, strengthens its communities and supports the nation’s food security. That means prioritising locally serving solar on rooftops, brownfield sites and genuinely low-value land – not the large-scale loss of productive farmland,” it says.
Run by volunteers, the group says it supports renewable energy, but not the way it’s being put forward with schemes such as the Grimsby to Walpole pylons.
The group says that Lincolnshire is one of the country’s most important areas for food production and land should not be lost wholesale into energy production.
The recent application is for a 400kv Air Insulated substation with associated landscaping, environmental mitigation, drainage and highways.
An air insulated substation uses the open-air to insulate its equipment including transformers, switches and circuit breakers. Everything within the station is exposed.
Air insulation needs more space than a gas-insulated equivalent, but is cheaper to construct and easier to both inspect and repair.
The application also says 76 construction jobs will be created as a result of the scheme.
One owl box, one peregrine falcon platform and 35 hectares of planting specifically for farmland birds will be included with the development.
The report says there are no specific plans for the two substations to be decommissioned.
Construction will cause a ‘small magnitude’ of change for the area except Crowtree Cottages which will receive ‘medium magnitude.’
