Abstract
Humber Gateway is a Round 2 offshore wind farm development, located in the northern part of the Greater Wash area. The site is located between 8km and 13.5km east of the Yorkshire coast, near the Humber Estuary in the north east of England. The Humber Gateway wind farm array covers an area of around 35 square kilometres of sea and will consist of 73 wind turbines, monopile foundations and inter-array cables. A single offshore substation platform will be mounted on a jacket type foundation.
Each wind turbine will be connected by 33kV inter-array cables to the offshore substation located at the north-west corner of the development site.
Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm (OWF) has been awarded full planning consent for construction and operation of the wind farm off the Holderness Coast. The Marine Licence issued to HWL in February 2013 (which replaces FEPA and CPA licences awarded in February 2011) requires HWL to undertake Benthic and Annex I survey during the preconstruction phase of the OWF development. This Preconstruction BMP Annual Report is a culmination of the works undertaken to fulfil the preconstruction Benthic and Annex I requirements of the Marine Licence.
Precision Marine Survey Limited (PMSL) has undertaken the Benthic and Annex I surveys on behalf of Humber Gateway Limited (HWL), in accordance with the requirements of the Marine Licence conditions for preconstruction ornithology.
A Benthic Monitoring Programme (BMP) was submitted to the MMO for approval in December 2011 (version 1), with a revised version issued dated May 2012 (version 2), where the latter included comments received from the MMO. A more detailed Annex I and Benthic Survey Methodology was issued to the MMO in August 2012, which detailed the location of the Annex I survey stations, which were based upon the results of the geophysical survey assessment.