Offshore substation
The purpose of building
an offshore wind farm is to generate renewable electricity.
The electricity is produced by the electrical generator which
is transported and flows through cables inside the tower to
cables which are laid on the seabed which lead to the offshore
substation.
The offshore substation
is where electricity from all the individual wind turbines
is collected and the voltage stepped up to 132kV to make it
more easily transported to shore via two high voltage cables
reducing the power loss along the way.
Cable landfall
point
The wind farm turbines would be connected via an inter array network of cables which would link at one or two offshore transformer substations located within the wind farm. From these stations power would be exported via two marine cables which would make landfall in the vicinity of Weybourne Hope on the north Norfolk coast. Two routes for the site to shore export cables are being considered; a preferred direct route which passes directly across Sheringham Shoal and an alternative western route which passes to the west of the shoal.
Onshore cable route
In order to feed the electricity generated by the wind farm into the national distribution network, an onshore grid connection will be required between the landfall point at Weybourne and a suitable connection point. An existing electricity substation at Salle, near Cawston, which is owned and operated by EDF Energy (EDFE), has been selected as the preferred connection point by Scira.
The onshore grid connection project requires planning consent from the two local planning authorities within which the project is located - North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) and Broadland District Council (BDC).
Assuming consent, the onshore grid connection project will consist of two main components:
- an underground cable system between Weybourne and the substation at Salle (approximately 21.3km in length).
- a new substation adjacent to the existing EDFE substation at Salle.
Figure 1 provides an overview of the entire Sheringham Shoal project, including the location of the offshore wind farm, the export cables and the landfall point at Weybourne (all part of the May 2006 application to DBERR) along with the location of the proposed onshore grid connection route and substation.
Figure 1: Overview map
Generation Licence
On March 12, 2007 Scira was granted a generation licence by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem).
Two months later, the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority switched on Standard Licence Conditions (SLCs) 14 and 15 in the company's electricity generation licence. These modified conditions apply to the compulsory purchase of land and other powers related to cable laying and give licence holders certain powers and rights enabling them to carry out specific activities.
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