Dogger Bank Wind Farm: Updates and Developments

Dogger Bank Wind Farm: Updates and Developments

Back in August, we covered Dogger Bank wind farm, which is set to be the largest wind farm in the world upon its completion. Over the past few weeks, there have been a series of updates and developments from the project. As such, we believe this is a good opportunity to look at the site’s progress.

Dogger Bank, based 130km off the coast of East Yorkshire, near the Rix Renewables Grimsby Head Office, is a joint venture between SSE Renewables, Equinor, and now Vårgrønn after they purchased ENI Plenitude’s 20% stake in the project in October.
About the acquisition, Vårgrønn CEO Olac Hetland said “We are pleased to complete the transaction and appreciate the trust from our shareholders to focus their offshore wind efforts in Northern Europe through the expansion of Vårgrønn.”

Due to be completed in 2026, there are currently three sites in development: Dogger Bank A, B, and C. Although, in October, surveys were taking place as to the possibility of a fourth, Dogger Bank D, site. If agreed, this would push the final output from 3.6GW, which is enough to power six million homes a year, to nearly 5GW.

In December, it was announced that Octopus Energy Group had signed a Power Purchase Agreement with Shell Energy Europe. This agreement ensures that Dogger Bank will supply them with 2.4TWh per year. This is enough to power 800,000 homes or around 24% of Octopus Energy’s customer base. Matt Bunney, Head of the Octopus Energy Group, said, “If the energy crisis has taught us anything it is that we need to move fast to an energy system based on cheap renewables – and Dogger Bank will help to get us there”.

It was also revealed in December that EME Offshore had selected Tekmar Group, based in the North East of England, to supply the Cable Protection Systems (CPS) for Dogger Bank C. The fittings of these will take place in the third quarter of 2024 and will follow DEME Offshore’s provision of CPS for the initial two phases of Dogger Bank.

However, the most recent update came at the start of this week and was the news that several unexploded ordnance (UXO) items were identified within Dogger Bank A and B array areas during a UXO inspection campaign. There will now follow a UXO Clearance detail, which is due to take place in February.

As the build of this impressive project moves forward, we will be keeping a keen eye on any developments. Once operational, Dogger Bank wind farm will give us a massive push towards a greener energy supply for Europe. The importance of which is a reliant pressure as we move towards 2050.