573 MW Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm Officially Opens

The 573 MW Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm has been officially opened by Ørsted. The project will provide power for over 500,000 UK homes.

RPS has been involved with the Race Bank project since 2004, initially having been appointed by Centrica to contribute to the EIA for the onshore transmission infrastructure. The project is located in the Greater Wash strategic area, off the east coast of the UK.

Following the grant of consent for the project RPS staff were seconded into key project roles including onshore consents management where we provided our expertise in heritage, landscape, flood risk, ecology, GIS and transport consultancy and secured additional consents (including licences for watercourse crossings, roads and street works and alternative onshore substation development at Walpole Marsh); and technical and construction package management including geotechnical support and subsea cable installation.

Following the purchase of the project by Ørsted in 2013, RPS were appointed to continue to provide consents, environmental and stakeholder advice and secure the discharge of all onshore pre-commencement planning conditions, as well as further variations to existing consents for the onshore substation at Walpole in the Borough of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk and landfall works at Sutton Bridge in South Holland District.

We have continued to provide support to Ørsted throughout the OFTO due diligence process, drawing on our deep and long standing knowledge of the consents and environmental aspects of the project, We are extremely proud to have played a key role in the development and delivery of the project and welcome the news of its official opening.