Onshore Construction Start

Onshore construction for the Norfolk Vanguard East offshore wind farm, as part of RWE’s Norfolk Zone cluster, began in 2023 with the start of works on the underground cable route. The official project website states that onshore construction of the underground cable route is “well underway,” indicating that physical construction activities have commenced rather than just preliminary planning. This cable route will bring electricity ashore at Happisburgh and transport it approximately 60 km inland to the National Grid connection point at Necton, serving the Vanguard East and Vanguard West projects as well as the Norfolk Boreas wind farm. Together, these three consented wind farms comprise 276 turbines located about 47 km from the Norfolk coast and are being developed by RWE. The project timeline on the same site further notes that in 2023 enabling works began at the substation site and along the full length of the onshore cable route, reinforcing that the onshore construction phase for the shared infrastructure is in progress. These enabling and construction activities lay the groundwork for subsequent electrical and civil works necessary to connect Norfolk Vanguard East to the wider transmission network. Progress on the onshore elements is a key step towards delivering the cluster’s planned 4.2 GW of capacity, expected to generate enough low-carbon electricity to power the equivalent of more than 4 million UK homes once all three projects are operational.