Development
Six years in the planning, construction of Rampion Offshore Wind Farm started in autumn 2015 with onshore cable route works.
In January 2010, The Crown Estate awarded E.ON the exclusive rights to develop ‘Zone 6‘ off Sussex coast, as part of its third licensing round for offshore wind. The Crown Estate manages the seabed to the 12 NM territorial sea limit, and holds the rights to the resources to develop renewable energy out to the continental shelf around England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Throughout 2010 and 2011, work focussed on engagement, engineering and environmental surveys to enable the produce of draft proposals for the offshore wind farm ready for consultation. During this time the name Rampion was chosen for the project via a local schools competition.
Application submitted
Around 18 month of consultation and iteration of the proposals resulted in a final development consent application, which was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for examination in March 2013.
In July 2014, Rampion Offshore Wind Farm was awarded development consent by the Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (now part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy).
The positive final investment decision made in May 2015 meant the project would go ahead and construction work started in September 2015.
History
E.ON was awarded rights to develop the Zone as part of The Crown Estate’s Round 3 in June 2010. A lot has happened since.
Onshore
The electricity produced by Rampion is carried by the onshore cable from landfall at Brooklands Pleasure Park to the new substation at Twineham.
Further Developments
There are plans for a new project, known as 'Rampion 2', to be developed to expand the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm.
Offshore
All 116 turbines are in place and the first power to the grid was generated in November 2017.