Arguments for and against Rampion windfarm extension off West Sussex coast voiced at consultation event

Rampion 2 could power all of the homes in Sussex ‘twice over’ when combined with the existing Rampion wind farm, according to RWE Renewables.

The German company is currently carrying out its latest round of consultation which focuses on the inland cable route.

Up to 90, 325 metre tall turbines – more than double the height of existing turbines off the coast of Brighton – are planned.

Although these would be 13km off the coast at their closest, cables will be installed on land between Climping Beach and a substation at Oakendene in Cowfold.

This will require tunnelling under the beach, roads, railway lines, and South Downs.

There was a wide range of opinion on show during at Arun Yacht Club, Littlehampton, last Wednesday (November 2).

One Littlehampton resident said he hadn’t yet made up his mind but felt he had a duty to learn more about the project.

Meanwhile, a Findon woman consulted the large printed maps laid out on tables to see if the cables would pass near her property.

Andy Lee, a photographer and founding member of Littlehampton Jet Ski Club, ‘couldn’t see what all the fuss was about’.

“I think the wind turbines are brilliant,” he said.

“One of the common things I hear is that it ruins the horizon but most of the time the visibility is so bad you can’t see them anyway – I don’t get the issue.

“I understand concerns about the cabling to a degree but it’s always finished properly and put back how it was.

“We’ve got to go this way anyway at the end of the day, every house now should have solar panels in fact.”

Zoe Visram, a member of Middleton-on-Sea Coastal Alliance (MOSCA), is concerned about both the onshore and offshore impacts.

“When people talk about the harm to the view and placing Rampion 2 elsewhere, there’s a fear that you maybe sound like a NIMBY,” she said.

“But the view is really the least of our concerns when weighed up against all the other issues.

“Even with the scale back, Rampion 2 would still be absolutely gigantic.

“People were horrified at the suggestion of turbines the height of the Eiffel Tower and most people felt that by the time this went through, they would expand Rampion with turbines 210 metres tall.”

Ms Visram believes having the turbines so close to shore goes against government guidance and reduces efficiency.

“Those guidelines are in place to protect coastal communities, to protect important heritage sites like the national park and it also causes far less harm to wildlife further out to shore,” she said.

“Rampion 2 can’t even connect to the grid via existing cables, instead cutting a new cable route through a protected beach and the South Downs National Park.

“Weighing up all these things makes people question why such a gigantic extension is being proposed to Rampion.”

Ms Visram compared Rampion 2 with Dogger Bank where each of the three phases has a similar number of turbines, producing up to twice the amount of power but 130 kilometres from the coast.

Speaking on RWE’s recent announcement that 90 turbines would be installed rather than 116, the campaigner pointed out that 75 larger turbines were proposed originally.

“MOSCA are greatly in favour of green energy,” she said, “We, just like many other people, just don’t feel like Rampion 2 is truly green.”

Rampion 2 development and stakeholder manager Chris Tomlinson said the company had ‘listened to residents’ concerns’.

“These will be larger turbines – we don’t know exactly how large as it depends on the final project in 2026,” he said.

“We’ve listened to feedback and reduced the offshore area – In essence we’ve reduced by half the area that we started with.

“We can still deliver the same amount of power, we’re confident of that.

“Combined with Rampion, Rampion 2 will provide all the power for the whole of Sussex twice over.”

An RWE spokesperson said its Sofia offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank could power between 1.2 and 1.3 million homes compared to Rampion 2’s 1.12 million.

Rampion 2 development and stakeholder manager Chris Tomlinson says more offshore projects will have to come on-line to meet government targets.

“The government’s got this target to more than quadruple offshore wind capacity by the end of this decade,” he said, “That’s just over seven years away – it’s nothing.

“All these projects in the North Sea haven’t got a grid infrastructure.

“They will need pylons and cables to bring power to the South of England where demand is.

“The beauty of Rampion 2 is it’s a bit like a plug and play; we’ve already got the grid connection agreement from the National Grid and it’s all underground – there’s no pylons, there’s no cables.

“To keep our lights on we desperately need projects like this.”

Mr Tomlinson said siting a wind farm in the North Sea may capture more power but would require costlier infrastructure.

He added that Rampion targets were exceeded by 15 per cent in 2020.

Mr Tomlinson said RWE wants to reduce potential impacts on the Sussex Kelp Restoration Project ‘as much as possible’ and a finalized environmental report will be submitted next year.

Planning permission for Rampion 2 will not be granted by the local council because it is a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP).

The final say will rest with the Secretary of State.

A Development Consent Order (DCO) was due to be submitted this summer but has been pushed back to 2023.

Further consultation events will take place between 1-8pm at Ashurst Village Hall, Steyning, on Friday (11 November) and Washington Village Memorial Hall on Saturday (November 12).