NORFOLK'S Scroby Sands windfarm has hit problems again after its operators said a major offshore operation was needed to replace a broken power cable. Eon will need specialist boats and lifting equipment to carry out the work in the spring after a fault was diagnosed with one of the site's three high-voltage cables off the Yarmouth coast.

NORFOLK'S Scroby Sands windfarm has hit problems again after its operators said a major offshore operation was needed to replace a broken power cable.

Eon will need specialist boats and lifting equipment to carry out the work in the spring after a fault was diagnosed with one of the site's three high-voltage cables off the Yarmouth coast.

Despite the fault, Eon said the windfarm's 30 turbines would still supply normal power levels to 37,000 homes.

Eon has to wait for better weather before any replacement cable work is carried out.

But the company admitted that if another cable failed before then, it would have an impact on energy supplies.

In the last two years the company has replaced generators and gearboxes at the site, and last year an onshore cable needed repair-ing after moisture seeped into a connection joint.

Eon spokesman Jonathan Smith said that although Scroby Sands had experienced difficulties since it opened in 2004, the windfarm was at the forefront of generating eco-friendly power.

Mr Smith said: “It is one of the largest offshore windfarms in the country and any lessons learned from operating and maintaining it will shape how the industry is run in the next 10 years.”