Dogger Bank Wind Farm is a group of offshore wind farms under construction 125 to 290 kilometres off the east coast of Yorkshire, in the North Sea, England. It is being developed by the Forewind consortium. It is expected that the Dogger Bank development will consist of four offshore wind farms, each with a capacity of up to 1.2 GW, creating a combined capacity of 4.8 GW. Planning consent for the first phase of the project was granted by the UK government in February 2015, and consent for the second phase was granted in August 2015. The farms were all successful in the 2019 contract for difference auction and have a delivery date between 2023 and 2025. In 2019, GE was chosen to provide the turbines for the project.
Project overview
is in the North Sea, located between and off the east coast of Yorkshire. It is one of nine offshore zones belonging to the Crown Estate which formed part of the third licence round for UK offshore wind farms. The Dogger Bank is an attractive location for offshore wind farms because it is far away from shore, avoiding complaints about the visual impact of wind turbines, yet the water depth is shallow enough for traditional fixed foundation wind turbine designs. Fixed-foundation wind turbines are economically limited to maximum water depths of, at greater water depths new floating wind turbine designs are required, which currently cost significantly more to build. The Forewind consortium was formed by the four owner companies - SSE, RWE, Statoil and Statkraft - in November 2008 in response to the third licence round. In January 2010, Forewind was announced as the developer for the Dogger Bank Zone, the largest of the Round 3 zones. Statoil increases its share from Statkraft, beginning in 2017. In August 2017 new ownership arrangements were announced, SSE and Equinor have each taken 50% share in Dogger Bank Creyke Beck A, B and Teeside A, while Innogy has taken Teesside B and renamed it to Sofia Offshore Wind Farm. Originally projected to produce up to 9 GW of power, the plan was scaled down to 7.2 GW in 2014, and scaled down even further to 4.8 GW in 2015. The wind farm is planning to use the Haliade-X 12 MW from GE, one of the world's largest wind turbines, to be installed by the wind turbine installation vessel Voltaire.
Dogger Bank Creyke Beck A and B
The first phase will be for Dogger Bank Creyke Beck A and B. This will comprise two offshore wind farms each generating up to 1.2 GW of electricity, with a total installed capacity of up to 2.4 GW. They would connect to the existing Creyke Beck substation near Cottingham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The two sites lie from the East Yorkshire coast. Dogger Bank Creyke Beck A will cover an area of, and Dogger Bank Creyke Beck B will cover an area of. Planning consent was granted for 400 turbines on 17 February 2015. These two projects are owned by SSE and Equinor. ABB was chosen for the HVDC light power transfer cables to shore.
Dogger Bank Teesside
Dogger Bank Teesside is intended to be the second stage of development of the Dogger Bank Zone. It was divided into two phases of development: Dogger Bank Teesside A & B and Dogger Bank Teesside C & D. These would connect to the National Grid at a substation in Redcar and Cleveland, Teesside.
Dogger Bank Teesside
Dogger Bank Teesside A & B comprises two wind farms, each generating up to 1.2 GW of electricity. Dogger Bank Teesside A lies from the shore and will cover an area of. Dogger Bank Teesside B lies from the shore and will cover an area of. Planning consent was granted for 400 turbines on 5 August 2015. Construction of the wind farms must begin before August 2022. Since 2017 SSE and Equinor own Dogger Bank Teesside A, while Dogger Bank Teesside B was taken by Innogy and renamed Sofia Offshore Wind Farm.
Dogger Bank Teesside C & D
This second application was planned to comprise two wind farms, each generating up to 1.2 GW of electricity. It was originally expected that planning consent would be determined in 2017. However, in August 2015 Forewind scrapped the final phase and returned the remaining area of the Dogger Bank development zone to the Crown Estate.
Dutch, German, and Danish electrical grid operators are cooperating in a project to build a North Sea Wind Power Hub complex on one or more artificial islands to be constructed on Dogger Bank as part of a European system for sustainable electricity. The power hub would interconnect the three national power grids with each other and with the Dogger Bank Wind Farm. A study commissioned by Dutch electrical grid operator TenneT reported in February 2017 that as much as 110 gigawatts of wind energy generating capacity could ultimately be developed at the Dogger Bank location. At the North Seas Energy Forum in Brussels on 23 March 2017, Energinet.dk will sign a contract to work with the German and Dutch branches of TenneT; thereafter a feasibility study will be produced.
