Specialist Marine Consultants (SMC) have been awarded a holistic Marine Coordination services contract to work on all three phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm.
SMC will deliver a turnkey Marine Coordination personnel solution in support of construction operations at what will become the world’s largest offshore windfarm when it’s completed in 2026.
George Moore, Business Development Director at SMC commented:
“We have been involved in operations at Dogger Bank Wind Farm since the days of the Forewind consortium. Dogger Bank is a local project for us and has remained a key area of focus for the company over the years. Confirmation of this award represents our 16th active Marine Coordination contract to be undertaken during 2022 and reaffirms our position as the market leader in delivering Marine Coordination services.
Over the past couple of years, we have delivered a range of services to the project, and the decision by Dogger Bank Wind Farm to extend our relationship is testament to the level of service we have been able to deliver. We’re keen to keep building on this relationship over the coming months and years, supporting Dogger Bank Wind Farm in delivering a truly world leading project and what will become the UK’s largest single source of offshore renewable energy”.
For reference, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm is a joint venture partnership between SSE Renewables (40%), Equinor (40%), and Eni (20%).
SSE Renewables is leading on the development and construction of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, and Equinor will operate the windfarm on completion and during its expected operational life of around 35 years. SMC are currently supporting SSE Renewables with both Marine Coordination and Balance of Plant services during construction of the Seagreen offshore windfarm in Scotland.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm shall have a combined capacity of 3.6GW when completed and will be capable of powering 6 million UK homes. Visit https://doggerbank.com/ to find out more about the project, and https://smchse.com/ to learn more about SMC.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm facts:
The 3.6GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm when completed in 2026.
It is being built in three 1.2GW phases: Dogger Bank A, B and C.
The project is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (40%), Equinor (40%) and Eni (20%).
SSE Renewables is lead operator for the development and construction of Dogger Bank Wind Farm. Equinor will be lead operator of the wind farm on completion for its expected operational life of around 35 years.
Financial Close on Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B was reached in November 2020, with Financial Close for Dogger Bank C reached in December 2021. Taken in aggregate, reaching Financial Close on all three phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm is the largest offshore wind project financing to date globally.
Consent for Dogger Bank Wind Farm was granted in 2015.
Each of the three phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm secured 15-year CfD contracts for 1.2GW of low carbon power for of low carbon power production in the UK’s third CfD Allocation Round, announced September 2019.
In May 2021, Dogger Bank Wind Farm took another major step forward after passing a required delivery milestone under the UK’s Contracts for Difference scheme for low carbon power.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm is located in the North Sea, with each phase more than 130km from the Yorkshire Coast.
Onshore construction began in 2020 and is currently underway for Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B, with offshore construction on Dogger Bank A due to begin in Q2 2022. First power is expected in Summer 2023 and Summer 2024 for Dogger Bank A and B, respectively, with commercial operations to follow around 6 months later.
Onshore cable installation civils works for Dogger Bank C will start in Q1 2022, with construction of the onshore convertor station to commence in Q2 2022. Offshore export cable installation will commence in Q1 2024 with offshore platform installation to commence in Q2, 2024. Foundation installation will commence in Q3, 2024 while turbine installation will commence in Q2, 2025.
First power is anticipated in Q3, 2025 and full power in Q1, 2026.
More than 3000 new UK jobs have been announced so far that will be supported by the construction and operation of Dogger Bank Wind Farm.
These include up to 750 direct and around 1,500 indirect jobs associated with the set-up of a new world-class blade manufacturing facility on Teesside by LM Wind Power, a GE Renewable Energy business, with production due to start in 2023.
470 jobs are expected to be recruited by GE Renewable Energy across the north east of England in support of the delivery and operation of all three phases of the project. These will be made up of around 300 skilled roles for turbine installation and commissioning activities and 170 servicing roles at Port of Tyne under GE’s five-year Service and Warranty Agreements for Dogger Bank phases A, B and C once operational.
At least a further 30 roles will be hired by Equinor as operator of the wind farm, based at the Port of Tyne or offshore.
170 new full-time UK-based jobs will be created by North Star Renewables in crewing and shore-based roles for the operation of the service fleet for Dogger Bank Wind Farm.
Up to 100 peak construction jobs will be created by Jones Bros. Civil Engineering, one of the UK’s leading civil engineering contractors, on the installation of onshore cable infrastructure for Dogger Bank A and B.
Dogger Bank A and B has confirmed GE’s Haliade-X 13MW as the turbine powering the first two phases of the project. As the first order for the Haliade-X 13MW, installation at Dogger Bank A will be the first time the turbine is installed in the world.
Installation of GE’s upscaled Haliade-X 14MW turbine at Dogger Bank C will be the first time the 14MW turbine is installed in the world.
One rotation of the Haliade-X turbine blades can power one UK home for more than two days.
The wind turbines will be installed on monopile foundations.
Dogger Bank will be the first High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) connected wind farm in the UK due to its distance from shore, introducing new transmission systems to the UK and paving the way for other large offshore wind farms.
For more information about Dogger Bank Wind Farm visit www.doggerbank.com
