Offshore

The offshore elements of the proposed wind farm include the turbines, their foundations, an onshore substation, the inter-array cables (connecting the turbines to the offshore substation), and subsea cables from the substation to shore.

Example based on monopile foundations

The layout of the turbines will be designed to maximise the energy yield from the site.

In order to meet the total installed capacity of 230MW, there will be up to 77 turbines, depending on the machine size that is chosen.

The turbine nacelle and hub which houses the gear box, complete with three blades, will be mounted on a cylindrical steel tower which, in turn, would be supported by a foundation fixed to the sea bed.

Please note that the final project details (e.g. size of turbine, type of foundation etc) are not available at this time. Therefore, a number of options will remain under consideration until further detailed design work has taken place, including: 

• Detailed geotechnical investigations
• Economic assessments and 
• Negotiation and contracts with relevant contractors and suppliers. 

Onshore

Since the planning application for the offshore elements and underground cable route was submitted in April 2008, we've had to identify an alternative location for the substation and make some minor changes to the original cable route, known as the cable spur.

The onshore elements consist of the cable spur and a new substation site located just off Staithes Road on industrial land. The proposed substation will consist of two compounds:

• A 275kV substation compound owned and operated by National Grid in the northern part of the site
• A 132kV (indicative rating) substation compound owned and operated by E.ON in the southern part of the site.

The proposal does not involve any additional overhead lines, only variations to the existing tower.