The Dogger Bank Wind Farm project is a landmark offshore wind farm project in the UK. It explores the North Sea’s potential through major phases leading up to more than 3 GW in installed capacity. The project will serve the electricity needs of many UK households within the next three decades.
Where is Dogger Bank?
Dogger Bank is in the North Sea, located 290 kilometers from the coast of the United Kingdom. The offshore wind farm development is within UK territory and part of English waters.
Its sea features classify it as a sandbank or a ridge with a more shallow water depth because of a mound of sand in the seabed. Sandbanks encroach near coastlines, making them attractive for offshore wind farm developers. Additionally, the low water depth gives more clearance for developers to work with more simple fixed foundations, rather than floating foundations.
Dogger Bank is part of the submerged area called Doggerland–the historic landmass that connected the British Isles to the main European continent during the last Ice Age. After the Ice Age, ocean levels rose and submerged the land mass. The water depths of the Doggerland can be as shallow as 18 meters but as deep as 63 meters.
Who owns Dogger Bank?
Dogger Bank is part of UK waters, but its feature extends to the Dutch and German waters as a large sandbank. The zone where SSE and Equinor will develop the Dogger Bank wind farm is within UK territory as the EEZ of the United Kingdom dictates that it is within the country’s rights.
What turbines are at Dogger Bank wind farm?
GE Renewable Energy is the preferred supplier of the turbines for all three phases of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm project. The first two phases determined GE Haliade X 13 MW is the best offshore wind turbine for the project, while the third phase will get a boost from GE Haliade X 14 MW.
The service and warranty contract secured for the GE Haliade turbines will last until five years after commissioning in 2026.
The Haliade X prototype at 13 MW registered a world record in Rotterdam in 2020 after producing 320-megawatt hours of continuous energy daily.
How many turbines does Dogger Bank have?
Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B will each use 95 wind turbines. For Dogger Bank C, the total number of turbines is 87.
| Project Phase | Turbines |
|---|---|
| Dogger Bank A | 95 GE Haliade X 13 MW |
| Dogger Bank B | 95 GE Haliade X 13 MW |
| Dogger Bank C | 86 GE Haliade X 14 MW |
| Dogger Bank Total | 276 GE Haliade Turbines |
Where is the Dogger Bank wind farm?
The Dogger Bank wind farm is an offshore wind farm in the North Sea, developing the area between 125 to 290 kilometers from the eastern Yorkshire coast in three phases.
As one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, it is an ideal development for the North Sea territory of the United Kingdom. As the oil drilling in the North Sea saw an underwhelming outcome in the past, the Dogger Bank zone is considered more sustainable.
The Dogger Bank project will also help provide 3.6 Gigawatts of installed capacity to the national grid of the United Kingdom, which aims to extract 30 GW of energy from wind power by 2030.
Dogger Bank A and B will use 30 kilometers of onshore cabling to connect to the existing Creyke Beck Substation.
Is Dogger Bank in UK waters?
The Dogger Bank project is on the Northeast coast of England within EEZ, so the area is solely under UK government jurisdiction.
Nonetheless, Dogger Bank has a portion that is part of German and Dutch waters. But as part of the exclusive economic zone of the United Kingdom according to international law, and as per the comprehensive EEZ (exclusive economic zone) law of the country in 2009, the UK has a 200 nautical mile economic zone around its island coasts exclusively for its development.
Who is building Dogger Bank?
The Dogger Bank offshore wind farm is made possible by the joint venture between SSE Renewables and the Norwegian state-owned Equinor. SSE renewables, an FTSE 100 company, will handle the development and construction. Equinor will operate the renewable energy project for 35 years.
The stake between the two companies was 50% each initially, then 20% was bought by Eni from the two companies in 2021 for Phase A and B. in February 2022, Eni purchased a 20% stake from Phase C. The stake for each phase is 40-40-20, with 40% equally for SSE and Equinor.
Is Dogger Bank in Scottish waters?
Dogger Bank is in English waters, and the closest coastline is Yorkshire’s east coast.
Scottish waters are north, while the Dogger Bank is part of Doggerland, which stretches south, diverging from the North Sea and into the UK and the central European continental shelf.
Is Dogger Bank the world’s largest offshore wind farm?
Dogger Bank is not the largest, but the wind farm continues the trend of growing wind farms and will become one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world in 2026.
As a large-scale renewable energy project, it will deliver power to the national grid and energize 6 million British homes. To date, there are 27 million homes in the country. For scale, each 13 MW offshore wind turbine can power a household for two days’ worth of energy in one full rotation. Moreover, each Haliade x turbine powers up to 16,000 homes.
The Dogger Bank offshore wind farm will generate enough electricity to potentially offset the carbon dioxide emission of 9,000 cars compared to fossil fuels.
How many phases in Dogger Bank?
The Dogger Bank wind farm project has three phases. The Dogger Bank Wind Farm project will cover nearly 1,700 square kilometers after turbine installation. With such a vast installation area, the estimated electricity generated from the three phases will be 18 terawatt-hours annually. SSE Renewables and Equinor will deliver an estimated 5% of the annual electricity for the UK national grid via this project.
Dogger Bank A and B will use ABB’s high voltage direct current technology (HVDC) to connect to the onshore converter station in the first two phases. HVDC Light technology helps with more efficient power transmission from the offshore HVDC converter platform.
Recently, the company tweeted about successful deliveries of Hitachi transformers to the onshore converter platforms in May 2022 at the East Riding site. Hitachi is the supplier for the project’s design, construction, and installation of 6 converter stations, including three offshore and three onshore.
Dogger Bank Phase A
Dogger Bank A is the first wind farm in the Dogger Bank zone and covers 515 square kilometers.
Turbine installation in Dogger Bank A will start by 2023 and deliver first power in the same year.
In April of 2022, offshore cabling lay, while suppliers also delivered the first transition pieces in May 2022 to Rotterdam. The transition pieces will be installed in the North Sea later in 2022.
Dogger Bank Phase B
Dogger Bank B is the largest of the three phases and the project’s second phase. It covers an area of 599 square kilometers. Dogger Bank B will install turbines in 2023 and receive its converter platform in 2024 from Aibel. Phase B will deliver its first power in 2024 and operate shortly after six months.
Dogger Bank Phase C
Dogger Bank C is the final phase in the Dogger Bank wind farm project. It will connect to a converter station near Redcar and the national grid via the existing Lackenby substation.
Offshore construction has not yet begun. Site preparation for the onshore converter platform started in July 2021, with turbines installed in 2023. Dogger Bank C will transmit its first power in the third quarter of 2025 and be fully operational by 2026.
Initially, Dogger Bank C was part of the Dogger Bank Teesside project, including Dogger Bank A & B and C & D.
The joint venture of SSE and Equinor bought Dogger Bank Teesside A in 2017. They renamed it Dogger Bank C. Meanwhile, Dogger Bank Teesside B was bought by Innogen and renamed Sofia Offshore Wind Farm.
Is Dogger Bank C financially closed?
Dogger Bank C had completed the financial close for the last phase in December 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic. The joint venture secured a $3.3 billion loan facility from most of the investors for Dogger Bank A and B and three export credit agencies.
Like the first two phases, Dogger Bank C secured a 15-year power purchase agreement in the third phase.