Company hopes wind farm will power up to 1m homes

A new offshore wind farm has been given the go-ahead in the hope that it will power up to one million UK homes in the future.

The Five Estuaries site will include up to 79 turbines off north Essex and south Suffolk - at least 37 km (23 miles) from the coastline.

The RWE project will sit next to the existing Galloper wind farm, which is also owned by an RWE-led consortium.

The Planning Inspectorate concluded that the development was needed to ensure energy security and meet "the urgent need for low carbon energy".

The application was submitted in March 2024 and a consultation followed for the public and interested parties.

"Local communities continue to be given the opportunity of being involved in the examination of projects that may affect them," the Planning Inspectorate said.

RWE said the wind farm would potentially generate a maximum of 1080MW.

"Once fully constructed, Five Estuaries would be capable of generating sufficient electricity to power the equivalent of up to 1 million typical UK homes annually," it said.

The development will span 28 sq km (49 sq miles) and be spread across two seabed areas.

It will also consist of offshore substations and cabling, with an onshore substation to allow connection to the National Grid.

Electricity would be transmitted onshore via cables to Sandy Point, which is located between Frinton-on-Sea and Holland-on-Sea.

RWE said the wind farm would "support long-term investment in the East of England region".

"During construction and operations, the project would support hundreds of new and existing skilled jobs, both directly and across the wider supply chain," it said.

The company also said it believed the development "could play an important role" in supporting "the Government's transition towards a decarbonised electricity system" while securing "domestically generated clean power".

Danielle Lane, RWE director of development for UK and Ireland, said: "We are delighted to have received development consent for Five Estuaries.

"This achievement reflects years of dedicated community engagement and collaboration with local stakeholders."

Correction 26 January: The headline for this article has been amended to reflect that it is RWE's claim that that the project will be able to produce sufficient energy for 1 million homes. The article also stated that RWE said the wind farm "would generate in excess of 300MW" and this has been corrected to "RWE said the wind farm would potentially generate a maximum of 1080MW".

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