Wind farm project could involve tunnelling under the River Welland as National Grid confirms Outer Dowsing project will connect in South Holland

A giant wind farm will connect to the national grid in South Holland, it has been confirmed.

And the miles of cables which will link the offshore Outer Dowsing Offshore project – which will be one of the world’s largest and generate enough energy to power 1.6 million homes – to this area from the coast, could even involve tunneling under the River Welland.

The National Grid have decided not to pursue the option of building a new substation at Alford, known as the Lincolnshire Connection Node.

This means the wind farm will now connect at one of two proposed sites in South Holland – either Surfleet Marsh or Weston Marsh.

The cable route will pass through villages including Wyberton, Kirton, Frampton, Fosdyke, Sutterton Dowdyke, Surfleet Seas End and Moulton Seas End as well as tunneling under the Haven at Fishtoft.

If the Weston Marsh proposal gets the thumbs up then developers will also tunnel under the Welland at Fosdyke Bridge.

“Subsequent to the conclusion of a follow up appraisal by National Grid ESO, we are now able to confirm that we will no longer pursue the Lincolnshire Node connection option for the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind project,” a statement by Outer Dowsing states.

“We will continue development activities at the remaining two potential study areas for the substation location, one in the Surfleet Marsh area (previously referred to as Weston Marsh North) and one in the Weston Marsh area (previously referred to as Weston Marsh South).”

The Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind plan aims to build a 1.5GW wind farm 54km off the Lincolnshire coast.

“The assessment methodology used by National Grid ESO considered the four network design objectives used within the Holistic Network Design analysis: economic and efficient, deliverable and operable, minimise environmental impact, minimise community impact,” the statement added.

“Two options were considered: Lincolnshire Connection Node, and Weston Marsh.

“Outer Dowsing will take the feedback gained in the Phase 2 consultation and work with the transmission owner, National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET), as it carries out further design assessments in the area, to prepare for a consultation in the Autumn to help inform the design for our final consent application.”

It has also been confirmed that an inland route has been chosen for the northern section of the route due to the consistency of the earth on the original route, closer to the coastline.

The project’s statutory consultation closed on July 21 but the public can still send questions to contact@outerdowsing.com.