Turbine installation at the Dogger Bank wind farm, currently under development by a joint venture of SSE, Equinor and Vargronn (a joint venture of Eni Plenitude and Hitec Vision), is expected to commence in early August 2023.
Installation of the first turbine is described as a major milestone in the Dogger Bank wind farm’s construction.
One of the largest offshore wind farms in the world, it is being built in three phases, A, B and C, each with 1.2GW of capacity. The three phases will have a total power-generating capacity of 3.6GW.
Dogger Bank will feature a total of 277 turbines, supplied by GE Renewable Energy. The Haliade-X variant turbines will generate 13MW. At 260m, they will be almost twice as high as the London Eye.
Every turn of a turbine’s 107m wide blades will generate enough energy to power an average UK home for two days.
Expected to be fully completed in 2026, the wind farm will produce sufficient clean electricity to power six million homes, supporting the UK’s net-zero emissions target.
Jan De Nul, the Belgian maritime infrastructure services provider, has been selected for the turbine installation. For this task, the company will use <i>Voltaire</i>, its largest offshore jack-up installation vessel.
SSE CEO Alistair Phillips-Davies stated: “Dogger Bank is one of the biggest and most complex engineering and infrastructure projects anywhere in the world. Our progress here with our joint venture partners Equinor and Vårgrønn proves that offshore wind projects of this size are now mainstream and will help turbocharge the transition to the cheaper, cleaner and more secure energy system we all want to see.
“It is action, not ambition, that will secure our energy future and this project shows action on a massive scale. But we will need many more Dogger Banks to achieve our goals and we look forward to working with government to bring forward more projects at pace.”
Earlier in 2023, Equinor and SSE announced that they are exploring options to expand the wind farm. They plan to begin scoping work on a fourth phase, Dogger Bank D, which will have 1.32GW of capacity.
