North Falls is a proposed offshore wind farm in the southern North Sea, approximately 40 kilometres (km) off the East Anglian coast.
We’re proposing to develop and construct a new offshore wind farm comprising up to 57 offshore wind turbine generators (WTGs), and their associated foundations, located in an approximately 95 square kilometre (km2) offshore array area.
The offshore export cable route runs from the 95km2 offshore array area to landfall near Kirby Brook, Essex.
Onshore export cables will then transport the electricity in a broadly westerly direction approximately 24km to the proposed onshore substation located west of Little Bromley, near Ardleigh, before it enters the national electricity network.
The onshore export cables will be entirely buried to minimise visual and environmental impact. Please note that the construction of pylons is not included in the Project’s Development Consent Order (DCO) application.
If consented and built, North Falls will generate enough electricity to power hundreds of thousands of UK homes each year, contributing to government targets of reaching 50 gigawatts (GW) of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030 and net zero by 2050.
Our application for development consent was accepted by the Planning Inspectorate on 22 August 2024 and we are now in the Examination stage.
You can find more information on the Project’s current status here.
As part of our application for development consent, we have retained optionality regarding the Project’s point of connection to the National Grid:
It is important to note that Options 1 and 2, with a connection point within the Tendring peninsula of Essex, are currently the only grid options provided by National Grid and therefore available to North Falls at this point in time.
Under Options 1 and 2, the Project would comprise the following offshore infrastructure:
Similarly, the key onshore infrastructure would be as follows:
More information can be found in the Project Description chapter of our Environmental Statement, which was submitted as part of our application for development consent.
Climate change as a result of greenhouse gas emissions is a global issue associated with impacts on weather, ecosystems, human health and welfare. To tackle this, the UK Government has committed to installing 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, and reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The production of energy using clean, renewable sources, such as offshore wind, will be critical to meeting these commitments. Projects such as North Falls are therefore crucial both to helping our nation achieve net zero and to tackling climate change worldwide.
The UK government’s Clean Power by 2030: Action Plan, published December 2024, aims to provide the foundation for the UK to build an energy system that can bring down bills for households and businesses, grow the economy, improve national security and raise standards of living. Projects like North Falls will support the delivery of this plan and help realise its ambitions.
More information can be found in the Needs Case and Benefits chapter of our Environmental Statement, which was submitted as part of our application for development consent.
SSER is a leading developer, owner and operator of renewable energy across the UK and Ireland, with a portfolio of around 4GW of onshore wind, offshore wind and hydro.
Part of SSER’s strategy is to drive the transition to a net zero future through the world class development, construction and operation of renewable energy assets.
SSER is a partner in the following existing UK offshore wind farms (operational or under construction):
*Consent for a further 36 turbines has also been granted for Seagreen 1A.
RWE is one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies.
It has onshore and offshore wind farms, photovoltaic plants and battery storage facilities with a combined pro-rata capacity of approximately 9GW.
RWE is a partner or full owner in the following existing UK offshore wind farms* (operational or under construction):
*RWE has recently had consent granted for Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of north Wales.
In addition to the above portfolios of offshore wind farms in operation or under construction, RWE and SSER are each in the process of consenting a range of other wind farms:
