Sussex Wildlife Trust response to Rampion 2 Windfarm

Charlotte Owen
, 26 November 2023
Sussex Wildlife Trust response to Rampion 2 Windfarm
© Peter Cairns/2020VISION

Charlotte Owen

Conservation Officer

Sussex Wildlife Trust has registered as an Interested Party to comment on the proposed Rampion 2 Offshore Windfarm (find out more about this application here.)

Since climate change is one of the most serious threats to biodiversity, we support efforts to reduce carbon emissions by producing renewable energy. However, we also recognise that all forms of energy generation will have environmental costs. It's therefore vital that renewable energy projects are planned and delivered to avoid harming wildlife and deliver an overall net gain for biodiversity to support nature’s recovery.

With this in mind, we are not objecting to this windfarm extension but will be commenting on the detail of the proposal – or lack thereof. So much flexibility has been built into the application that it’s difficult to know exactly what will happen where, and how this will impact wildlife. Here are some of our concerns:

At sea

  • The high level of uncertainty makes it difficult to assess the environmental impacts and whether they have been properly addressed.
  • For example, the type of foundations to be used for the wind turbine generators remains undecided. There are several options, and the impacts on the seabed will vary depending on which option is used.
  • All elements of construction need to be carefully micro-sited to minimise environmental impacts, especially to irreplaceable habitats and sensitive species.
  • Construction noise can cause significant disruption, so we’d like to see a commitment to using noise-reduction technology, which is standard practice for similar projects across Europe.

On land

  • The cable will come ashore at Climping Beach, which is highly mobile and already experiencing heavy erosion. Conditions here may change significantly by the time construction is due to begin in 2026, and construction is likely to cause further habitat disturbance. Climping Beach is a SSSI and Local Wildlife Site, so it’s vital that ecological impacts are minimised at this sensitive protected site.
  • The use of Horizontal Directional Drilling (tunnelling underneath features like hedgerows and streams, rather than digging an open trench, to lay the cable) will help to reduce ecological impacts – but will only be used ‘when feasible’. It’s not clear where and when this construction method will be used along the 38 km cable route, and what will be done if alternative methods are needed.
  • It’s not clear how much habitat will be permanently lost, or what will be done to compensate for this loss.
  • We’d like to see a clearer demonstration that lessons learned from Rampion 1 have been fully incorporated into plans for Rampion 2, particularly to improve the effectiveness of habitat restoration.

We’ve submitted headline concerns (known as a Relevant Representation) during the registration process and are now working up a more detailed submission (known as Written Representation) ready for the next phase of the process. Further updates and background information can be found here.

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