World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm Marks Milestone Moment as First Turbine is Installed

Construction of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm is well underway, with hundreds of turbines being installed over the coming days. Phases A, B and C of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm are set to be completed by 2026, when it will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm. With a capacity of 3.6GW, the wind farm will be able to provide enough electricity for 6 million homes.

Using a jack-up vessel called Volatire, 277 turbines will be installed in total. The Jan de Nul-Built Volatire is the largest vessel of its kind, and it has the ability to lift an incredible 3,200 tonnes. It will be used throughout all phases of Dogger Bank construction, including installing a number of GR Renewable Energy’s 13MW Haliade-C turbines. This installation will take place almost 130 km away from the Yorkshire coastline.

Constructing The World’s Largest Wind Farm

The Dogger Bank Wind Farm will become the largest offshore wind farm in the world, taking up an area similar to the size of Greater London. This makes Dogger Bank twice the size of the second largest offshore wind farm. SSE Renewables and Equinor and Vårgrønn - a UK based developed and joint venture partners from Norway respectively - are collaborating on the wind farm project, with the former overseeing the development and construction aspects of the project. Equinor and Vårgrønn are focused on the wind farm’s operations, which is expected to span at least 35 years.

Despite being the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Dogger Bank has faced some challenging conditions in the North Sea. This has led to a number of ‘firsts’ being introduced, including the use of an unmanned offshore High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) substation platform.

SSE Renewables’ CEO, Alistair Phillips-Davies explained that “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.”

Oliver Dowden, the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister, highlighted that the Dogger Bank Wind Farm project will “generate cheap, clean energy to power millions of homes and provide the UK with greater energy independence in the face of Putin’s energy ransom.”

Not only will the Dogger Bank Wind Farm provide electricity to millions of homes in the UK, it is also expected to create at least 2,000 jobs, many of which will be in the North East of England. It’s a significant step forward in regards to the development of offshore wind farms and energy, but also jobs for the local area.

The energy industry is a demanding and challenging environment and one that requires a wide variety of highly skilled professionals.

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