Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm Extension Projects (SEP & DEP)

Background and requirements

During the period 2020 to 2023, Sagentia Aviation supported Royal Haskoning DHV, consulting engineers, one of the leading providers of services to the offshore wind energy sector, by supplying strategic advice and delivering technical assessments.

in the delivery of the Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm Extension Projects’ Development Consent Order (DCO) application on behalf of Equinor (one of Europe’s leading offshore windfarm developers).

SEP and DEP will be located approximately 15.8 and 26.5 kilometres (km), respectively, off the North Norfolk coast within the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covering an offshore area of some 212 km². These two developments will double the capacity of the existing Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon wind farms providing renewable energy to power an additional 785,000 UK homes. Currently, the combined output of Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon wind farms is sufficient to power around 710,000 UK homes; these proposed extensions will increase that capacity to nearly 1.5 million UK households.

Approach

As lead aviation consultants, Sagentia Aviation provided strategic advice and delivered technical assessments in support of this project. These assessments included radar line of sight analysis and Instrument Flight Procedure (IFP) analysis to allow the developer to fully understand the impact of these wind farm developments on those who control and operate within and around the airspace which surrounds the proposed developments. Sagentia Aviation also supported a stakeholder liaison strategy and provided engagement support and management. A Technical Report was compiled that included an analysis of the identified options to mitigate against the effects of wind farm construction and operation, and an analysis of the planned onshore cable routing. These details together provided the required input to the Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for aviation which was included in the Environmental Statement (ES). Sagentia Aviation continued to provide support through the DCO Examination process for these Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP).

Outcome

Submission of the DCO application to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) was made in September 2022 and the PINS Examination closed on 17 July 2023. Civil and Military Aviation was one of the principal issues considered during the Examination. Over a period of three months the Examining Authority (ExA) compiled a report which contained its recommendation to the Secretary of State (SoS). Following an extended decision period from three to six months, the SoS published a decision in April 2024 to grant the development consent for both SEP and DEP. This was a tremendous milestone for the projects and a testament to the hard work invested by the whole project team over a six-year period. This was the first time in the UK that two offshore wind projects under separate ownership were awarded consent under a shared application.