Piling work on 400-MW UK offshore wind farm pauses to protect fish

Offshore piling work for the 400-MW Rampion wind farm off southern England will be paused for a second time this winter to protect local fish.

Work on piling the turbine foundations into the sea was halted last month because of the black bream spawning season and is due to restart in July. Piling work will not be allowed between November 20 and January 15, 2017 to protect spawning herring, The Argus reported.

A spokesman for German energy group E.on SE (ETR:EOAN), which is building the wind farm, was cited as saying that 18 foundations had been installed prior to the current ban. The delay is included in the company’s plans and does not affect other offshore work and onshore activities, she said.

The interruptions are part of the project’s planning permission that was granted by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in 2014 after representations by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), The Argus said.

The GBP-1.3-billion (USD 1.9bn/EUR 1.7bn) wind farm will feature 116 turbines located eight miles off the coast. It is scheduled to be completed in early 2018.

E.on's partners on the project are Canadian energy company Enbridge and the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB).

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.452/EUR 1.293)

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