Engineers at Rampion Offshore Wind, about 13 miles off the Sussex coast, have wrapped one turbine foundation in around 75,000 hollow concrete reef cubes. The cubes are meant to replace quarried rock as scour protection while giving marine life places to hide. Early monitoring has recorded starfish, European seabass, and brown crabs using the structure, and the site will be watched through 2030. The pilot is part of a broader push to make UK offshore wind infrastructure work for biodiversity, not just electricity output. The country already has more than 16 GW of offshore wind installed, and it needs a lot more to hit its 2030 target of 95% low-carbon generation. If the reef cubes hold up and scale, nature-inclusive foundations could become a standard feature in future projects.
