The Rampion site was identified following the Government's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which looked at the potential for new large-scale offshore wind farms in UK waters. The SEA looked at a whole range of environmental and technical criteria to establish the area as suitable for wind farm development, including:

• wind speed
• water depth
• distance from shore
• major shipping lanes
• environmental designations
• other uses of seabed, eg aggregates extraction.

Nine zones were identified and The Crown Estate, which owns the seabed around the UK, launched a tender process known as 'Round 3', to award development rights.

We were awarded exclusive development rights in an area off the Sussex coast, to seek to build and operate an offshore wind farm. This was initially called Zone 6.

In 2010, we held a competition among local schools to choose a name for the site. Pupils from Davison High School in Worthing put forward the shortlisted entry and the final name, Rampion, was decided by a public vote. Rampion is the county flower of Sussex.