Wind Energy and renewable energy blog

Norfolk County Council green party members were not happy this week when Norfolk’s planning and highways committee registered an objection to the 620MW Race Bank wind farm off the North Norfolk coast, 27 km from Blakeney Point, England.

The company proposing the scheme – Centrica (who owns British Gas in the UK, Direct Energy in the US, SPE in Belgium and Oxxio in The Netherlands) was awarded an agreement for lease from the Crown Estate in 2004 for the development of an offshore wind energy project at Race Bank beyond territorial waters. Centrica submitted an application for the Race Bank project to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in January of this year.

Norfolk County’s Director of Environment Mike Jackson recommended the council object, pointing to fears about the impact on the local fishing industry and economy. He said the proposal was contrary to the development plan for the area despite offshore wind energy being outside the remit of the planning system. The decision to object was taken by committee chairman Adrian Gunson who registered the objection. Gunson said “The key thing is the uncertainty and cumulative effect with already permitted turbines….we were worried about the effect of the turbines lights at night“.

Andrew Boswell from the Green Party said “The case for objection centres on the possibility of damage to the coastal view, although the wind farm would be 27km offshore. This is just the sort of investment that the Green Party believes the UK and especially Norfolk should be pursuing as a route out of the economic crises.”

Centrica is now considering the responses to its consultation before taking its next step. To see the location of Race Bank, Centrica have a map on their website showing their offshore wind energy proposals in the Greater Wash, off the east coast of England.