Public invited to join the conversation around Morven Offshore Wind Farm

• Public consultation to run for eight weeks from 9 July to 3 September with the local community and stakeholders invited to join the conversation. 

• The planned wind farm has an estimated generating capacity of 2.9GW of renewable energy, the potential to power the equivalent of around 3 million homes. 

• Information about the project, consultation, events and how to have your say can be found at www.morvenoffshorewind.com.  

Morven Offshore Wind Limited is launching a public consultation on 9 July about plans for the English infrastructure associated with the Morven Offshore Wind Farm. The consultation will run until 3 September 2024. All local residents and stakeholders are invited to join the conversation and help shape how the project progresses. The Morven Offshore Wind Farm is being developed under a joint venture between bp and Energie Baden-Württemberg AG EnBW. The Morven Offshore Wind Farm is in Scottish territorial waters, approximately 60km off the coast of Aberdeen. It has the potential to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of approximately 3 million UK households with lower carbon electricity.  This consultation will focus on the proposals for offshore electricity cables in English waters, underground onshore electricity cables near Seaham, and a substation near Hawthorn Pit near Seaham in County Durham. As part of the early works, two search corridors near Seaham capable of accommodating underground, onshore cables have been identified. During the consultation, the public and stakeholders can provide feedback on these search corridors, the offshore cables, the substation search area and can provide any other information they feel the project should take into consideration.  Four public events will be held in the area to provide an opportunity to meet the team, ask questions, and find out more about the project. The events are open to everyone wanting to provide feedback on the consultation or find out more: 

• Thursday, 11 July (2pm - 7pm) at Robin Todd Centre, Front Street, South Hetton, DH6 2TH 

• Friday, 12 July (10am - 4pm) at Seaham Town Hall, Stockton Road, Seaham, SR7 0HP 

• Saturday, 13 July (10am - 4pm) at the Seaham Carnival, the Morven project will have a stall 

• Wednesday, 17 July (2pm - 7pm) at Glebe Centre, Durham Place, Murton, SR7 9BX 

Richard Haydock, Programme director at bp, said: “This consultation is an early but critical step in the planning process for the English infrastructure of the Morven project. It provides the community with a chance to provide feedback on the plans for development of the project and let us know what community benefits they would like to see brought forward.”  Sarah Pirie, Programme director at EnBW, added: “The UK is at a crucial step in transitioning to lower carbon, secure, domestic sources of energy, and projects like this can make a key contribution to meeting renewable energy targets. We are proud of the role we are playing in this transition and look forward to talking to the community about the project.” If you would like to get involved in the consultation or find out more information, please visit: morvenoffshorewind.com. 

ENDS 

Notes to Editors

About bp 

bp has set out an ambition to be a net-zero company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get to net zero. bp has set out a strategy for delivering this ambition. bp is focused on delivering its transformation into an integrated energy company, helping to provide the energy the world needs today – which is mainly oil and gas - and investing in the energy transition.  

About EnBW 

EnBW is one of the largest energy supply companies in Germany and supplies electricity, gas, water and energy solutions and energy industry services to around 5.5 million customers with a workforce of more than 27,000 employees. It aims to strengthen its position as a sustainable and innovative infrastructure partner for customers, citizens and local authorities to an even greater extent.  

The repositioning of EnBW with a focus on renewable energies and smart infrastructure solutions is a key component of its strategy. With a focus on renewable energy and smart infrastructure solutions, EnBW’s objective is for half of the electricity it supplies to be from renewable sources by the end of 2025. This is already having a noticeable effect on the reduction of CO2 emissions, which EnBW aims to halve by 2030 and to be climate neutral by 2035.  

EnBW has been involved in the operation of hydro power plants in the Black Forest for more than 100 years and has a large and continuously growing number of onshore wind farms and solar photovoltaics in Germany, France and Sweden. In addition, EnBW developed, constructed and operates four offshore wind farms in Germany (EnBW Baltic 1, Baltic 2, Hohe See and Albatros) with a total installed capacity of 945 MW, commissioned between 2011 and 2020. A further 900 MW offshore wind farm, He Dreiht, is currently under development in Germany.  

Further enquiries:  

Should you have any queries or require further information please contact:  

bp: bppress@bp.com  

EnBW: Stefanie Klumpp: stefanie.klumpp@enbw.com