The National Grid are currently undertaking major marine surveys in Morecambe Bay to gather information for the North West Coast Connections project. The project aims to create a tunnel between Heysham power station in Lancashire and Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria to directly route electricity cables. This route corridor is needed to accommodate energy created by the new nuclear power station to be built at Moorside near Sellafield.
As part of the marine surveys drill rigs are being used to dig 23 boreholes, seven of which will reach 100 metres below the sea bed and the other 16 will reach 60 metres. The boreholes will be able to provide information to the National Grid regarding the geographical layers under Morecambe Bay and may influence the route of the tunnel. The surveys are expected to take up to four weeks, weather dependant.
More information about the marine surveys can be found here.
To provide the National Grid with your views on the project more information can be found here.