Plans for wind farm's onshore power cables unveiled

Proposals for the onshore elements of the development of a major offshore wind farm to be located 32km off Cromer on the north Norfolk coast went on show this week.

Warwick Energy is the company behind the project which, subject to planning consents, could start onshore in 2011 with the offshore element starting in 2012.

As part of the scheme, there will be a 400kilovolt cable between King's Lynn and Norwich which will be the highest voltage buried cable anywhere in the UK.

On Tuesday representatives from Warwick Energy and its subsidiary Dudgeon Offshore Wind, which is leading the project, were based inside Fakenham Parish Church as part of a public consultation exercise to hear what local people feel about the scheme.

On Wednesday the consultation was at Necton Community Centre and yesterday it was at Holt community centre between 1pm and 8pm.

Warwick Energy director Mark Petterson said the response at Fakenham had been very good and much better than expected.

'We wanted to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to come and see what we are proposing,' he said.

The onshore cables, required to connect the offshore wind farm to the national electricity network, are to run for a total length of 45km from Weybourne Hope on the North Norfolk coast to Little Dunham, near Swaffham.

All cables will be buried and no additional pylons or overhead lines are proposed.

A new electrical substation is planned underneath the existing overhead powers south of Little Dunham.

Dudgeon Offshore Wind has already submitted an application to the Department of Energy and Climate Change for the offshore elements of the Dudgeon project which is located over 32km to the north of Cromer covering an area of 35 sq kilometres.

If planning approval is granted the Dudgeon project will deliver up to 560MW of renewable energy by 2013, supplying on average enough electricity for every household in Norfolk.