Rampion wind farm taking shape

A chartered engineer was delighted to be able to show his young grandson some of the huge reels of cables which will be used for the Rampion wind farm.
Rampion wind farm progress SUS-160111-113628001Rampion wind farm progress SUS-160111-113628001
Rampion wind farm progress SUS-160111-113628001

Mike Wooldridge, of Riverbank, Shoreham Beach, visited the E-ON Rampion wind farm cable routes near to the old Shoreham cement works.

Mr Wooldridge observed the site with his grandson Wilson.

He said: “There was a huge 100-ton crane waiting to unload one of the reels of underground cable.

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“So we stopped and were delighted when the site foreman let us stay and watch. There is so much health and safety regulation nowadays that its rare for passers by, let alone children, to be able to get near the action and sense the excitement of a large engineering project. This might even be one reason why not enough young people are inspired to choose engineering as a career.”

The reel, shown in the photo, holds 1,300 metres of cable, made in South Korea.

Mr Wooldridge believes the total number of reels required could be around 120. He added: “A few days later I was privileged to be given an off-cut of cable. The insulation, which is a special form of polythene (XLPE), allows the cable to withstand 150,000 volts between the core and the sheath. Hence the cable shown can carry enough off-shore electricity to power around 33,000 kettles.”

The Rampion windfarm project is scheduled for completion in 2018.

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