The UK’s Dogger Bank, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, now has its first 13 megawatt (MW) turbines in place.
The first two GE Renewable Energy 13 MW Haliade-X turbines are now installed at Dogger Bank A, which is around 80 miles off England’s Yorkshire coast. The two turbines were put up by the Voltaire (pictured above), the largest offshore jack-up installation vessel ever built. The ultra-low emission ship has a lifting capacity of 3,200 tonnes.
The Haliade-X turbines are 260 meters (853 feet) tall. To put that into perspective, each is as tall as the Rockefeller Center in New York. Each turn of their 107-meter-long (351-foot-long) blades will produce enough clean energy to power an average UK household for two days.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm will occupy an area almost as large as Greater London on a seabed that once formed a land bridge between the UK and Europe.
Once it’s online, the 277-turbine, 3.6 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm will be capable of producing enough clean energy to power the equivalent of 6 million households annually. It will generate annual CO2 savings equivalent to the emissions of nearly 1.5 million average gas-powered cars.
All 95 monopile foundations are also now complete at the Dogger Bank A site.
The world’s largest offshore wind farm is being developed and built by the UK developer SSE Renewables in a joint venture with Norway’s Equinor and Vårgrønn (a joint venture by Eni Plenitude and Hitec Vision).
Equinor EVP Renewables Pål Eitrheim said:
We’re delighted to soon begin operating Dogger Bank from our new O&M base at the Port of Tyne, which will host 400 jobs over the 35-year lifetime of the wind farm. We look forward to seeing the 277 turbines installed safely over the next three years, generating green electricity at scale and powering millions of British homes.
Read more: The world’s largest offshore wind farm is going to get even larger
Photo: SSE
This story first published on August 3 and was updated and republished on September 11.
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Author: Michelle Lewis
Source: Electrek
Top comment by Doubledutch
Liked by 5 people
Right now, 10GW of wind energy is being generated in the UK, 31% of usage. As the offshore build continues, instances where renewables (+nuclear, which is also inflexible) supply exceeds demand increases, causing negative wholesale electricity prices.
Fortunately, as well as a number of interconnectors selling North Sea wind to Europe, there are some innovative retail tarriffs now, such as Octopus Intelligent. The idea is that you tell the energy company what EV you have and how fast your charger is, and they then tell your car when to charge. Of course, they charge when there is a lot of wind, e.g. when a low pressure weather system is passing through the UK. That way, cost of charging is much lower (7.5p/kWh) and it is greener too.
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