Awel y Môr

By early September 2023, Natural Resources Wales had awarded a marine licence allowing RWE to drill a number of offshore test boreholes for site investigations in support of the Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm’s transmission route and project design.

In 2023, following the grant of its Development Consent Order, Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm secured the necessary marine licences from Natural Resources Wales, acting on behalf of the Welsh Government, covering the offshore construction and operation of the wind farm and its associated infrastructure.

From 30 September 2022, the Irish Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage opened a transboundary environmental impact assessment public consultation on the Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm, inviting submissions in Ireland on potential cross-border impacts identified under the Espoo Convention.

On 20 April 2022, Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Limited submitted an application for a Development Consent Order to the UK Planning Inspectorate for the construction and operation of the Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm and its onshore and offshore electrical connections.

By April 2022, the developer for Awel y Môr had selected a high‑voltage alternating current (HVAC) transmission solution for the project’s export system, deciding that the network transmission voltage would be up to 400 kV with a maximum of two cable circuits, using HVAC export cables as the preferred option due to their efficiency in minimising electrical losses and infrastructure requirements.

Following National Grid’s offer to connect at Bodelwyddan, Awel y Môr’s developer undertook offshore and onshore cable route engineering, evaluating a long list of corridor options against the Crown Estate Cable Route Protocol and project design principles, consulting stakeholders, and ultimately selecting a final offshore export cable route of about 31.5 km to landfall at Ffrith Beach and an approximately 12 km onshore export cable corridor from landfall, via an onshore substation west of St Asaph Business Park, to the existing National Grid Bodelwyddan substation.

By early February 2022, ABPmer had been commissioned by RWE to carry out seabed mobility and scour assessment for Awel y Môr, using metocean data, historic and project-specific seabed and geophysical surveys, and high‑resolution hydrodynamic and sediment transport modelling to map sediment transport pathways and coastal change risks along the wind farm site and export cable corridor.

In August 2021 Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Limited published its Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR) and opened a formal public consultation on refined proposals for the project. The consultation materials presented the preferred offshore cable route, the offshore and onshore cable corridors, landfall near Ffrith Beach, and potential onshore substation zones near Bodelwyddan and St Asaph Business Park for the transmission connection to the National Grid.

In August 2021, Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Limited published its Statement of Community Consultation and associated Section 48 notices, initiating the statutory pre-application public consultation on the proposed Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm off the North Wales coast.

Following completion of NGESO’s Connections Infrastructure Options Note (CION) process in April 2020, which identified the existing 400 kV Bodelwyddan substation as the preferred onshore connection point, Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Limited signed the post-CION grid connection agreement in May 2021, formally accepting the grid connection offer for Awel y Môr’s transmission works.

Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Limited carried out its first public consultation in November/December 2020 on early proposals for the project, including the offshore cable route, landfall and onshore substation works needed to connect to the National Grid at Bodelwyddan. Feedback from this consultation was used to refine the project design, including the transmission route and associated infrastructure.

RWE and its partners signed Agreements for Lease with The Crown Estate for four UK offshore wind farm extensions, including the Gwynt y Môr extension Awel y Môr, securing up to 576 MW of capacity on a 106-square-kilometre seabed area west of the existing Gwynt y Môr wind farm.

Collection of seabed survey data for Awel y Môr, used to inform the design envelope including export cabling for the transmission system, was completed by September 2020.

On 6 July 2020, RWE confirmed that the Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm would be developed through a joint venture, with RWE holding a 60% stake, Stadtwerke München 30%, and Siemens’ financing arm Siemens Financial Services 10%, with RWE leading development of the project off the North Wales coast on behalf of the partners.

The Planning Inspectorate (PINS) ran a formal Environmental Impact Assessment scoping consultation for the Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm, including its export cable corridor and grid connection works. An EIA Scoping Report was shared with stakeholders on 11 May 2020, and the formal PINS scoping process took place from 12 June to 12 July 2020 to gather views on the proposed development and associated transmission infrastructure.

Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Ltd collected seabed survey data in the project area, including infrastructure such as export cabling, starting in May 2020 to inform the consent envelope and detailed design, including ranges of export cable lengths for the Awel y Môr transmission system.

As part of the grid connection process for Awel y Môr’s transmission works, National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) ran a Connections Infrastructure Options Note (CION) assessment that concluded in April 2020 and identified the existing 400 kV Bodelwyddan substation as the preferred onshore connection point to the Main Interconnected Transmission System for the project’s export cables and onshore substation.

In April 2019, Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Limited submitted an application to National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) for a grid connection to the Main Interconnected Transmission System, initiating the process to secure a transmission connection for the Awel y Môr export cables at Bodelwyddan in North Wales.

The Awel y Môr offshore wind farm was awarded its seabed lease by The Crown Estate in 2019, formally granting the project development rights for the extension area off the North Wales coast.

In February 2017, The Crown Estate invited operators of existing UK offshore wind farms, including Gwynt y Môr, to express interest in potential extension projects, effectively identifying the zone off the North Wales coast where the Awel y Môr extension could be developed.

Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Limited, the applicant and project company responsible for developing Awel y Môr and its associated transmission works, is structured as a joint venture owned by RWE Renewables (60%), Stadtwerke München (30%) and Siemens Financial Services (10%), with RWE leading development activities for the project.

Project documentation for Awel y Môr’s transmission works states that, before installing the offshore cables, seabed preparation will be undertaken along the offshore export cable route. These preparatory works are expected to include activities such as unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance and sandwave clearance to ready the seabed for laying the high‑voltage AC export cables that connect the offshore wind farm to the onshore grid at Bodelwyddan.

Project documentation for Awel y Môr explains that, prior to installing the offshore export and interlink cables for the transmission system, seabed preparation will be carried out that is expected to include unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance along the offshore cable routes.