The UK Planning Inspectorate has finished a six-month examination of RWE’s application for a Development Consent Order for the 1.2GW Rampion 2 wind farm off south England.
Planners now have three months to send a recommendation to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband who will then have until early February to decide whether to grant or reject the DCO.
If consented, the 90-turbine extension of the existing 400MW Rampion 1 could move into construction in 2026/27 and become operational by 2030.
The German developer’s choice of onshore cable route through the South Downs National Park between a landfall site near Climping, Sussex, and substations at Cowfold and Bolney has proved controversial despite being refined at the pre-application stage during successive rounds of consultation.
Examiners also received objections from stakeholders including Natural England who opposed the siting of turbines in the easternmost portion of the 196-square kilometre array area to protect the “defined special quality” of the national park and Sussex Heritage Coast.
RWE said it had addressed concerns by cutting the number of turbines from 116 to 90 to slash the size of the original array area by around 50% following an initial consultation in 2021.