Cable Route Engineering

By November 2024, the Stromar Floating Offshore Wind Farm project team had undertaken significant cable route engineering and refinement for its grid connection. As part of the first phase of statutory pre-application consultation, the project presented a refined onshore cable route corridor, replacing the broader scoping area shown at earlier information days in March 2024. This corridor has been considerably reduced in size through engagement with the local community, landowners, Aberdeenshire Council and NatureScot, and by factoring in key environmental and social constraints such as peatland, ancient woodland, waterbodies, environmental designations, heritage assets, private water supplies, and proximity to residential properties and businesses. Offshore, Stromar has identified and narrowed a preferred offshore cable route, alongside developing a refined export cable route connecting the offshore substations to the north Aberdeenshire coast between Fraserburgh and Rosehearty. These refinements reflect feedback received at the March 2024 information events, where stakeholders requested more detail in the plans. In response, the project has selected and tightened the preferred offshore alignment and clarified the interface between offshore infrastructure and landfall. The work sits within ongoing environmental and engineering assessments and supports Stromar’s commitment to bury all onshore cables between landfall and the planned onshore substation near the SSEN Greens substation, while minimising construction impacts. These routing refinements form a key technical input to the current consultation and will continue to be adjusted as survey outputs and stakeholder feedback are incorporated ahead of planned consent applications in 2025.