TEP is managing and co-ordinating the Environmental Impact Assessment of the UK elements of Project Nemo; a high voltage direct current (HVDC) link proposed between southeast England and Belgium. The onshore elements include a converter station, a new substation, underground and mid-tidal subsea cables.
We have supported the discharge of reserved matters and planning conditions, assisting throughout the construction and installation process. In summer 2017, construction and installation is approximately half-completed with the important nearshore cables landing programmed to commence in July.
The nearshore and onshore cables route is short but passes through constrained areas including internationally designated sites for nature conservation interest, a country park based on a former landfill, a Wildlife Trust reserve and a separate Site of Special Scientific Interest.
EIA has helped inform different installation methods in different parts of the route to ensure environmental effects are acceptable. Our ecologists have carried out detailed botanical surveys of the saltmarshes, using NVC techniques, to assist in the cables routeing process.
