Abstract
Humber Wind Ltd has obtained the necessary consents required to construct the Humber Gateway offshore wind farm which is to be located approximately 8 to 13.5km to the east of Easington and Spurn Head and will consist of a maximum of 83 turbines covering an area of 35 km2 with a maximum capacity of up to 300MW. The current plans for the development include a series of inter-array undersea cables between the offshore wind turbines and the offshore substation along with two export undersea cables from the offshore substation to shore. The FEPA consent 34011/11/0 was issued in February 2011 and outlines the responsibilities of the developer with respect to environmental monitoring for the project. A Benthic Monitoring Plan (BMP) was issued to the MMO in January 2012 which defined the proposed range of preconstruction surveys to be undertaken in order to fulfil FEPA consent requirements.
In accordance with the BMP, this document outlines additional detail with regards to Annex I and benthic monitoring to be undertaken in August and September 2012 as preconstruction survey before commencement of construction in summer 2013.
The survey strategy outlined in this document optimises the most recent geophysical survey undertaken in winter 2012 and current thinking with regards to the array cable routing. This document is therefore intended to be supplementary information to the BMP.
Annex I Survey and Benthic Sampling for the Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm