Consultation opens on substation plans for major offshore wind project

People are being invited to have their say about plans for the construction of a new substation for the Mona Offshore Wind project.

Mona forms one half of a pair of wind farms – the other has been named Morgan – that together will form one of the largest wind farms in the world, with a combined potential generating capacity of 3GW.

If approved, the windfarms could be operational by 2029 and are are expected to generate enough clean electricity to power approximately 3.4 million households.

The wind farms will be located approximately 20km – 30km from the north Wales coast coast.

The wind farms are being developed by EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG and bp, which has shortlisted seven possible substation locations for the Mona project at Bodelwyddan in Denbighshire.

All seven locations are in the vicinity of the existing National Grid substation and the new consultation is designed specifically to ask for feedback on these potential sites.

Environmental assessments

The developers say feedback from the consultation will be combined with ongoing environmental assessments and technical studies to help the project team narrow its focus.

One or more preferred locations will then be the subject of further consultation in the coming months.

EnBW Project Director, Céline Combé said: “Once built, our new substation will connect into the existing National Grid substation at Bodelwyddan, so that the renewable power we will be generating can be fed into the electricity transmission network.

“We are committed to engaging with the community at every stage of the project and I would like to encourage local people to find out more about these proposed substation locations and give us their views.”

The consultation is running from Monday 26 September to Monday 7 November with two public exhibitions taking place at Bodelwyddan Village Hall on Friday 14 October (from 3pm to 7pm) and Saturday 15 October (from 10am to 1pm). A webinar will also take place on Wednesday 12 October (from 6.30pm to 8pm).

Anybody wishing to take part in the consultation or to register for the webinar is encouraged to visit the project’s website.

Further information is available by calling free on 0800 860 6263 or by emailing the project on [email protected]