North Falls Offshore Wind has hired Royal HaskoningDHV to provide the leading Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) services in support of the Development Consent Order application for the Greater Gabbard extension project.
The up to 504 MW North Falls is one of the seven UK offshore wind farm extension projects that secured Agreements for Lease with the UK seabed manager, The Crown Estate.
The North Falls project is located around 20 kilometres off the UK coast in the southern North Sea, next to the operational 504 MW Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm. The project extension is planned for an area of seabed covering a total of 150 km2.
“We will be leading on a range of offshore and onshore disciplines that are required to successfully deliver a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, incorporating the collective experience, having consented 12GW of offshore wind in the UK during more than 20 years in the industry,” Ed Frost , Royal HaskoningDHV Project Director, said.
North Falls Offshore Wind, the developer of the project, is a special purpose company and a 50:50 joint venture between SSE Renewables and RWE.
The project is being developed with a team comprising staff from both owner companies.
Daniel Harper , consents manager at North Falls, said: “We welcome Royal HaskoningDHV to the team and look forward to benefitting from their significant and comprehensive expertise in the sector. Their appointment marks the kick off of our EIA process and is a tangible step forward in this early phase of North Falls’ development.”
The Development Consent Order application for the North Falls wind farm is expected to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in 2023.