Dogger Bank – at 3.6GW and a cost of £11bn ($14bn) set to be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm to be built so far – has sent its first power to the UK grid.
Output from the first of Dogger Bank’s 13MW turbines is a watershed moment for the project’s co-owners Equinor, SSE and Vargronn, and for GE Vernova, marking the global commercial debut of its Haliade-X model.
The Dogger Bank project team will over three phases to 2026 install 277 of the Haliade-X turbines, enough to supply power to six million British homes from its site 130km off northeast England.
The first power to flow using high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology at a UK offshore wind farm also provided cheer for a sector beset by doubts following the recent cancellation of a smaller North Sea project and a no-show by would-be developers at Britain’s latest renewable energy auction.
Dogger Bank – which won its contract-for-difference (CfD) deal with the UK government in 2019 – could potentially grow further, with the partners considering a fourth gigascale Dogger Bank D phase.
SSE chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies said it was a “landmark moment for the global offshore wind industry, with Dogger Bank demonstrating just what can be achieved when policymakers, investors, industry, and communities work together to achieve something truly remarkable.
“The innovations this pioneering project has developed will also mean future developments can be built faster and more efficiently, accelerating the clean energy transition. Now, of course, the challenge is to accelerate the next wave of these projects and we look forward to working with governments to bring these forward as soon as possible.”
