Onshore Works

RWE npower renewables has secured planning permission to construct onshore electrical works, which are part of the proposed Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm in North Wales.

Permission was secured jointly from Conwy and Denbighshire County Councils for a range of onshore construction works stretching from the coastline just west of Belgrano in the county of Conwy, to St Asaph in Denbighshire.

The offshore consent applications were submitted to the now Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in November 2005. Consent was granted for the offshore sections of the project by DECC on 3rd December 2008. The onshore works are separate from the offshore works, and were submitted under the Town & Country Planning Act.

These works will involve the installation of underground electricity cable connection pits at Belgrano, which will receive the offshore cabling from Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm. From Belgrano to St Asaph underground power cables will be installed within open fields, with the landscape being reinstated once the work is complete. A new substation will be built close to St Asaph Business Park to enable the electricity voltage to be suitably increased to allow connection to the national electricity transmission network.

In November 2009, key preparatory ground works for the substation commenced at the site near to St Asaph Business Park.

It is anticipated that all of the onshore works will take around two years to complete and mitigation measures will be put in place to minimise their impact on the local area and community. As part of the onshore construction work, National Grid secured planning permission from Denbighshire County Council for work at the substation. National Grid has submitted a planning application to DECC to cover the installation of around 500metres of new overhead line to connect the substation to the transmission network.

In keeping with its policy of ensuring that local businesses, residents and stakeholders are fully informed, RWE npower renewables hosted a two day public information exhibition at St Asaph, in July 2008.