The huge offshore electricity project set to link Kent to Suffolk

The second consultation launched yesterday (October 24) on the building of 'Sea Link' - new infrastructure for the National Grid to carry more electricity from Suffolk to Kent^[1]. National Grid Electricity Network, which is behind the proposal, said upgrading the existing network would not be enough to meet future demand.

It said Sea Link would help the grid transport "more secure, cheaper, and cleaner forms of energy". It would see a mostly offshore installation of 145km of high voltage cable between Suffolk and Pegwell Bay in Kent, reinforcing the network between East Anglia and the south east of England.

It is part of The Great Grid Upgrade. The countryside charity CPRE Kent told KentLive in a statement that National Grid needed to demonstrate it had "examined and ruled out all other suitable brownfield options". The charity had many concerns, which included potential "ruination of one of the last remaining tranquil areas in Thanet".

"Pegwell Bay is the wrong place to bring this link ashore in Kent – and Minster Marshes the wrong place for the converter station. End of story," it said.

In Kent, Sea Link would include building a converter station up to 26m high and an adjacent substation to the north of Richborough Energy Park in Minster^[4].

It would also see 2km of underground cabling, and more than 2km of overhead cabling from the proposed Minster substation into the existing high voltage network. There would be construction of a "landfall point" - which means a place where offshore and onshore pipelines are connected - at Pegwell Bay, to the south of Cliffsend.

High voltage cables would cross under St Augustine's Golf Course and Stoneless Golf Centre, to a "transition joint bay" which is underground and where the cables switch from offshore to onshore technology, said the consultation document. Some of the cable would be installed beneath the Pegwell Bay saltmarsh.

Cable would also be installed under the A256/Richborough Way and then west for around 2km to the Minster substation. National Grid Electricity Transmission owns, builds and maintains the network in England and Wales. Building of Sea Link is forecast to span 2026 to 2030.

First public exhibitions

The first public exhibition in Kent is on Wednesday, November 15, at Cliffsend Village Hall in Cliffsend in Ramsgate, between 2.30 - 7.30pm. The following day, November 16, between noon - 5.30pm, one will be held at Minster Village Hall in the High Street in Minster.

The CPRE Kent statement in full: "Firstly, it will be good to see what National Grid’s definite plans are – the first consultation went under the radar and was missed by just about everyone, while large areas of land have been blighted by the uncertainty around these proposals."

"Perhaps the main issue for CPRE Kent is believing that National Grid has considered all alternatives and come up with such an environmentally destructive scheme as the only option on the table. National Grid needs to demonstrate it has examined and ruled out all other suitable brownfield options – and options that don’t entail wrecking much of Minster Marshes and disrupting a National Nature Reserve."

"The fact that Pegwell Bay NNR and SSSI (site of special scientific interest) is being targeted for yet more disruption is not acceptable – much of the habitat there has yet to recover from the Nemo Link between Belgium and Kent and of course there would be further disturbance to internationally important populations of birds should this scheme be permitted."

"At Minster, National Grid’s plans would mean the destruction of some of the best wheat-growing farmland in the country for the converter station and the possible placing of pylons over Abbey Farm, where so much excellent conservation work has been carried out."

'Ruination of one of the last remaining tranquil areas'

"CPRE Kent^[5] can’t accept the ruination of one of the last remaining tranquil areas in Thanet – somewhere that is already highly overdeveloped and facing eyewatering levels of housebuilding in the coming years. So much was made during the Covid-19 pandemic of the importance of countryside and open space for our well-being and mental health – and yet here’s National Grid looking to trash a load more. How soon some forget!"

"It is difficult to believe National Grid’s claim that Kent needs more power capacity given the number of wind farms (including one of the UK’s largest), solar farms (including one of the UK’s largest), power stations dotted around the coast, the Nemo Link and so on that we already have.

"It’s hard to avoid the suspicion that National Grid is not being totally open about its long-term aims and intentions. Pegwell Bay is the wrong place to bring this link ashore in Kent – and Minster Marshes the wrong place for the converter station. End of story."

How to have your say

The consultation will end on December 18. Local people are encouraged to give their views. There are other public information exhibition dates for Kent, which you can view, along with other ways to get involved in the consultation including through the online feedback form, via the National Grid's dedicated page here^[6].

This '10 minute read' Project Overview Document^[7] is handy to get an idea of Sea Link in Kent and Suffolk.

Let us know your thoughts below on the Sea Link proposal for Kent. Join the conversation with other Kent readers here.^[8]

Get more news from KentLive straight to your inbox for free HERE.^[9]

References

1. ^{^} Kent (www.kentlive.news)
2. ^{^} Kent movie fans ‘really sad’ as Halloween drive-in cinema cancelled (www.kentlive.news)
3. ^{^} Search for cruise crew member who 'fell overboard' in English Channel called off (www.kentlive.news)
4. ^{^} Minster (www.kentlive.news)
5. ^{^} CPRE Kent (www.cprekent.org.uk)
6. ^{^} the National Grid's dedicated page here (www.nationalgrid.com)
7. ^{^} Project Overview Document (www.nationalgrid.com)
8. ^{^} Join the conversation with other Kent readers here. (www.kentlive.news)
9. ^{^} HERE. (data.reachplc.com)