NGV Nautilus Interconnector Consultations
14th September 2021
NATIONAL GRID VENTURES PLOUGHING AHEAD WITH NAUTILUS INTERCONNECTOR – CONSULTATIONS ANNOUNCED
As expected NGV is ploughing ahead with its Nautilus Interconnector Project which it is thought will seek to connect at the new National Grid connection hub being proposed at Friston under the cover of the Scottish Power’s EA1N & EA2 projects.
NGV is starting what it terms an “informal” consultation process with local communities which have already had to endure over more than three years of the Scottish Power consultations, the Sizewell C consultations, the Scottish Power examinations and the ongoing Sizewell C examination. This is the reality of cumulative impact – with the unacceptable burden on local people and the local environment, serious issues which energy companies are failing to address or even recognise.
National Grid Ventures is persisting with this project despite there being no cumulative impact assessment provided by Scottish Power in relation to EA1N & EA2 wind farms and other projects. The NGV proposals must address all the negative impacts these projects will have including:
– multiple landfalls on a fragile coastline with a sensitive ecology.
– multiple cable routes across the Suffolk Coasts and Heaths area of outstanding natural beauty and tranquil rural areas.
– further industrial scale infrastructure in the heart of rural East Suffolk including a “convertor” station covering 12 acres and 25m high.
– further risk to key tourism economy and jobs – Nautlius interconnector project will provide no permanent local jobs.
– yet further construction noise and disruption over an extended period.
The failure to assess cumulative impacts was hotly contested at the Scottish Power examinations and will remain a substantive issue in the BEIS decision. We will not let this issue rest.
NGV is holding a number of consultation events, locations and dates are set out below.
Please try to attend and voice your objections to these proposals & NGV’s intention to connect to a grid hub at Friston (if it is consented). We feel NGV should be made fully aware of the unacceptable manner in which Scottish Power & National Grid have devised this whole scenario.