Offshore wind gets bigger and further offshore with Dogger Bank project

Proposed 2.4 GW scheme will be sited in 30 m of water, 130 km from the Yorkshire coast. 

The UK offshore wind energy industry is poised to enter a new phase of building the world’s largest and furthest from shore group of wind farms in the North Sea.

The government has given the go ahead to the Dogger Bank Creyke Beck A and B offshore wind project that will include up to 400 wind turbines, around 130 km off the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire. The project is expected to support up to 900 jobs in Yorkshire and Humberside and millions of pounds’ worth of investment to the UK’s economy. With a maximum capacity of 2.4 GW, it will generate enough electricity to power almost 2mn homes once built.

Dogger Bank Creyke Beck comprises two separate 1.2 GW offshore wind farms, each with up to 200 turbines installed across an area of around 500 km². The wind farms will connect into the existing Creyke Beck substation near Cottingham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. 

The first consent order for offshore wind energy at Dogger Bank in the North Sea is the result of more than four years of assessments, stakeholder consultation and planning by the Forewind consortium, owned equally by the four international energy companies – RWE, SSE, Statkraft and Statoil. This work included the most extensive study of an offshore area by a wind energy developer ever undertaken, with more than £60mn spent on surveys, the vast majority going to UK-based contractors, said owner of the seabed The Crowne Estate.

When constructed, Dogger Bank Creyke Beck is expected to be one of UK’s largest power generators, second only to the 3.9 GW Drax coal and biomass-fired station in North Yorkshire. In total it will be capable of generating 8 TWh of green energy per annum. 

It will be the furthest offshore wind project from UK shores, while remaining in shallow waters of approximately 30 metres. This means that it will be at the cutting edge of advancements in offshore wind farm development across the world. It is also the first consented phase of the much larger Dogger Bank zone, which comprises six sites with an estimated total capacity of up to 7.2 GW. 

Dogger Bank Creyke Beck will now enter a pre-construction phase, before the final investment decision is made.

Wind energy trade association RenewableUK’s Director of Offshore Renewables, Nick Medic, said: ‘Dogger Bank demonstrates the sheer potential of offshore technology to turn our vast ocean and wind resources into green energy. It is a project that pushes the offshore engineering envelope – demonstrating how far this technology has evolved in the ten short years since the first major offshore wind farm was installed in North Hoyle just 5 miles from shore.’

Still on Humberside, CS Wind UK – an overseas subsidiary of the South Korean CS Wind Corporation – has been awarded Regional Growth Funding from the Department for Business Innovation & Skills to build an offshore wind tower manufacturing facility in the Humber. The facility would become the European headquarters and generate almost 200 direct jobs in the local area, says the company.

Last, two major offshore wind developers have signed an agreement to jointly develop the Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm, off the coast of Lincolnshire and North Norfolk. RWE Innogy and Statkraft say they are entering into a 50/50 partnership to deliver the 900 MW project.