RWE and SSE Renewables have made changes to their proposed southern North Sea offshore wind farm, North Falls.
Following a review of feedback received from its statutory consultation held during the summer the joint venture partners have dropped the northern offshore wind farm array area from plans which will reduce both its visibility from shore and its offshore footprint.
This will result in benefits for marine users such as fisheries and shipping the partners said.
The consultation comprised five face-to-face events in Essex and two webinars with a total of 231 attendees, and a resulting 642 pieces of written feedback from individuals, statutory bodies and community consultees.
North Falls is a proposed extension to the existing 504MW Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm. It comprises an offshore array area of 95 sq km off the East Anglia coast and a proposed onshore grid connection in Tendring, Essex.
Prior to the consultation review it comprised two offshore array areas totalling 150 sq km.
The array removal also means that the wind farm’s closest point to shore will now be 42 km, rather than the previous 22 km, which will make a significant difference to what will be visible, particularly from the Suffolk coast.
North Falls Project Director Andy Paine said: “North Falls completed its statutory consultation phase in July and since then the team has been reviewing the feedback and responses and determining how elements can be considered and what influence they can have on the proposals”.
Further changes since the end of consultation include a reduction in the number and maximum height of the project’s wind turbines, closer working with adjacent project Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm, and continuing with an offshore grid connection option as part of its proposals.
North Falls has recently published a newsletter with an overview of the most widely submitted feedback and a summary of how it has been taken into account within the proposals that will be submitted as part of the development consent order application next year.