Pack a picnic and climb aboard for a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Brighton’s famous Rampion Wind Farm being built.
Speed out to the site Aboard our 10m ultra stable 700HP catamaran the famous Brighton Diver 2, you will experience a panoramic view of England’s “South Coast Riviera” as you cruise 9 nautical miles in each direction.
Get up close and personal with the gigantic turbines standing 150m high and the jack up ships, whose hulls rise out of the water as they assemble each of the 116 windmills, till completion of Europe’s largest windmill farm in late fall 2017.
Enjoy the sea breeze as you float in between the enormous yet elegant windmills, and marvel at the epic scale of this landmark industrial project, as Skipper Paul gives a running commentary and your burning questions answered.
Tours last 2 – 3 hours depending on tides, and generally depart at 0900hrs, 1200hrs or 1500hrs on Saturdays and Sundays and some weekdays
Prices range between £30 and £40 pounds per person.
The larger your party, the cheaper the fare, so why not bring the whole family for a superb day out you will remember for many years to come.
Contact Brighton Diver for further details:
07901 822 375
Next Rampion wind farm trips are below please call Paul if you would like to book 07901822375 email paul@brightondiver.com
September
Monday 10th depart —0930
Wednesday 12th depart—— 1200
Friday 14th Depart 1200
Saturday 22nd depart — 0930
Sunday 23rd depart 0930
Wednesday 19th depart—— 1200
Friday 21st Depart 1200
Tuesday 25th depart ——0930
Wednesday 26th depart—— 0930
Thursday 27th depart——0930
Saturday 29th depart — 1200
Sunday 30th depart 0930—depart 1200
October
Monday 1st depart —0930 and 1200
Wednesday 3rd depart—— 1200
Friday 5th Depart 1200
Saturday 6th depart — 0930
Sunday 7th depart 0930—depart 1200
Monday 8th depart — 1200
Thursday 11th depart — 1200
Saturday 13th 0930 depart — 1200
Sunday 14th depart 0930—depart 1200
Wednesday 17th depart—— 1200
Saturday 20th 0930 depart — 1200
Sunday 21st depart 0930—depart 1200
Monday 22nd depart — 1200
Friday 26th Depart 1200
Saturday 27th depart — 1200
Sunday 28th depart 0930—depart 1200
Other dates available for group bookings
Rampion Windfarm tour departs 0900 and 1200 call Paul 07901822375 email paul@brightondiver.com
0900 depart, depart —1200
Boat available Diving Fishing or Windfarm trip call Paul 07901822375 paul@brightondiver.com
Rampion Windfarm tour departs 1200 call Paul 07901822375 email paul@brightondiver.com
The south coast’s first offshore wind farm
The Rampion Offshore Wind Farm comprises 116 wind turbines that each sit on top of a foundation fixed into the seabed.
With an installed capacity of 400 megawatts (MW), it will generate 1,400 gigawatt hours (GWh) of green power each year, equal to the amount used annually by around 350,000 UK homes1, or almost half the houses in Sussex. It will reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 600,000 tonnes a year.
The wind farm site covers 70 square kilometres, so it is larger than the island of Guernsey, and is located in the English Channel between 13 and 20 kilometres off the Sussex coast.
When complete in 2018, it will create around 60 full-time permanent jobs. Rampion will be operated and maintained from a purpose-built base at Newhaven Port, and is already acting as a catalyst for the regeneration of the port area.
Offshore components
Rampion features 116 MHI Vestas 3.45 MW turbines. The turbines are made up of an 80 metre (m) tall tower, a nacelle for the generation equipment, a hub, and three 55m long blades. When vertical, the tip of the turbine blade reaches 140m, which is just taller than the Brighton i360’s viewing pod at its top height.
The turbines sit on top of foundations, comprising single steel monopiles and bright yellow transition pieces, designed so they integrate together perfectly. There are 12 rows of 10 to 12 turbines that are connected by array cables taking the power to a single offshore substation. A total of 140 kilometres of array cables are buried in a network under the seabed. Laid end to end, the array cables would stretch from Brighton to London and back.
The wind turbines generate power at 33 kilovolts (kV) and the main role of the offshore substation is to transform this up to 150kV, to reduce any losses as it is transmitted to shore. The 2,000 tonne structure houses the electrical components at the heart of the wind farm including transformers, switchgear and control systems. It sits on a four-leg jacket foundation, fixed into the seabed and weighing around 900 tonnes.
Electricity will be transmitted from the offshore substation along two 16km subsea export cables, which come to shore at the beach, next to Brooklands Pleasure Park in East Worthing.
Rampion name
The Rampion name was entered into a schools’ naming competition by Davison High School for
Girls, and went on to win the public vote. The logo is a stylised version of the Rampion flower,
the county flower of Sussex (below), and uses blue and purple hues in its colour.
Offshore components
Rampion features 116 MHI Vestas 3.45 MW turbines. The turbines are made up of an 80 metre (m) tall tower, a nacelle for the generation equipment, a hub, and three 55m long blades. When vertical, the tip of the turbine blade reaches 140m, which is just taller than the Brighton i360’s viewing pod at its top height.
The turbines sit on top of foundations, comprising single steel monopiles and bright yellow transition pieces, designed so they integrate together perfectly. There are 12 rows of 10 to 12 turbines that are connected by array cables taking the power to a single offshore substation. A total of 140 kilometres of array cables are buried in a network under the seabed. Laid end to end, the array cables would stretch from Brighton to London and back.
The wind turbines generate power at 33 kilovolts (kV) and the main role of the offshore substation is to transform this up to 150kV, to reduce any losses as it is transmitted to shore. The 2,000 tonne structure houses the electrical components at the heart of the wind farm including transformers, switchgear and control systems. It sits on a four-leg jacket foundation, fixed into the seabed and weighing around 900 tonnes.
Electricity will be transmitted from the offshore substation along two 16km subsea export cables, which come to shore at the beach, next to Brooklands Pleasure Park in East Worthing.
Onshore cable and substation
From landfall, 27km of buried onshore cables will transport the power to a new onshore substation in Twineham, Mid Sussex. The cables have been installed in ducts laid in trenches that were backfilled prior to the cables being pulled through. A technique called horizontal directional drilling was used at four landmarks along the route – under the A27, the River Adur, railway line and, the A259 and Lancing Beach. By drilling under each of these, traffic and trains were not interrupted, the beach could remain open and environmental impact to the River Adur was minimised.
At the new substation, the electricity will be transformed from 150kV to 400kV and then transmitted to the existing National Grid substation. From here it will enter the national grid for use by homes, businesses and the wider community.
Construction time frame
Construction of the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm began in 2015 and is due to be fully operational in 2018, with the final completion date being largely dependent on logistics and weather during the construction period. Reinstatement of the onshore cable route will be monitored for 10 years and the wind farm itself will have a lifespan of 20 to 25 years.
