Hornsea Project Three offshore wind farm – EIA Examination phase complete

Ørsted’s Hornsea Project Three has the potential to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm to date. With up to 300 turbines, located 121km from the Norfolk coast, Hornsea Three will generate enough energy to supply well over 2 million UK homes if built to full capacity.

On 2 April 2019, the Planning Inspectorate Examination for Ørsted’s Hornsea Project Three offshore wind farm was completed. Now the Examining Authority will compile a report setting out its conclusions and recommendations in respect of the application. This is then sent to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who takes the decision about whether to grant development consent.

RPS is delighted to have supported Ørsted as the lead EIA consultant for the project during this phase. Our technical specialists have worked closely with Ørsted’s Environment and Consents team throughout the Examination, providing input to the several hundred documents which have been produced and submitted since October 2018.

Stuart Livesey, Ørsted’s Hornsea Project Three Development Manager commented: “RPS have played a central role in preparing the Hornsea Three application and providing technical advice through the testing examination phase. Their multi discipline team has been instrumental in preparing a robust evidence led assessment and have played a central role in responding to stakeholder and Examiners questions and concerns. They are a dedicated team and became trusted advisors on complex matters.”

Since 2016 RPS has been the lead EIA consultant, providing offshore and onshore services, on all three Ørsted Hornsea offshore wind farm projects.

Hornsea Project One, a 1.2 GW project was consented in December 2014 and is now generating power and Hornsea Project Two is a 1.8 GW project was consented in August 2016. Based on the successful delivery of these projects, RPS was awarded Hornsea Three providing project management, consenting and technical services throughout the pre-application phase - from scoping through to submission of the Environmental Statement in 2018, and the examination phase from October 2018 to April 2019.

For all three Hornsea projects, most of the assessments were undertaken by our in-house technical specialists. The offshore and onshore technical consultancy included a comprehensive range of marine and terrestrial, human, biological and physical environmental topics.

For more information about this project, or our services to the energy sector, please contact Alun Williams, Director - Offshore Renewables at williamsal@rpsgroup.com, or Dr Kevin Linnane - RPS Project Manager for the Examination Phase at kevin.linnane@rpsgroup.com