Dogger Bank Wind Farm and GE Renewable Energy have signed contracts confirming the 13MW Haliade-X turbine for the Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B phases of the world’s largest offshore wind farm. The contract award, which is subject to Dogger Bank A and B reaching Financial Close, includes an order for 190 Haliade-X 13MW offshore wind turbines to be installed off the north-east coast of England, split evenly at 95 turbines for each of the first two phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm.
The installation of these turbines will be the first time ever a 13MW Haliade-X is installed in the world. One spin of the Haliade-X 13MW can generate enough electricity to power a UK household for more than two days.
As part of the agreement GE Renewable Energy will establish its marshaling harbour activities at Able Seaton Port in Hartlepool which will serve as the base for turbine service equipment, installation and commissioning activities for Dogger Bank A and B.
This will see the delivery of component parts for each of GE’s Haliade-X 13MW wind turbines to the specialist port, including the nacelle, three tower sections and three 107 meter long blades, for pre-assembly on-site at Able Seaton prior to transport out to the North Sea for installation. Turbine installation is expected to commence in 2023 at Dogger Bank A.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm is a 50:50 joint venture between SSE Renewables, who are leading the construction of the wind farm and Equinor, who will operate the 3.6GW project during its lifetime of at least 25-years. The project is located over 130 kilometer off England’s north-east coast and will be capable of powering up to 4.5 UK million homes each year when complete in 2026. Due to its size and scale, the site is being built in three consecutive phases; Dogger Bank A, Dogger Bank B and Dogger Bank C. Each project is expected to generate around 6TWh of electricity annually. Dogger Bank’s three projects secured 3.6GW of offshore wind contracts in the UK Government’s 2019 contracts for difference auctions. Financial Close on Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B is expected in late 2020 with Financial Close for Dogger Bank C expected in late 2021
The Haliade-X 13MW turbine is an enhanced version of the successful 12MW prototype unit which has been generating power in Rotterdam since November 2019 and recently secured its provisional type certificate from DNV-GL. This prototype unit, which set a world record in January 2020 by being the first wind turbine to produce 288MWh in one day, will start operating at 13MW in the coming months as part of its ongoing testing and certification process. The uprated 13MW Haliade-X will continue to feature 107 meter long blades and a 220-meter rotor covering a swept area of 38,000 square meters, that’s three times bigger than the London Eye!
To install the turbines, the project will use the world’s largest jack-up installation vessel, Jan De Nul’s Voltaire. The vessel is taller than the Eiffel Tower, has a lifting capacity of 3000 tonnes and is entering into service in 2022.
The Service & Warranty agreements for the first two phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm will account for around 120 of the Operational and Maintenance jobs that will be based from the Port of Tyne. In addition, GE Renewable Energy has also confirmed that it will establish its marshalling construction team activities at Able Seaton Port in Hartlepool.
Able Seaton Port is a 51 hectare site and has some of the strongest quays in Europe which have been constructed particularly to suit the requirements of the offshore energy sector. ASP has the capacity to handle virtually all offshore vessels that are operating in the North Sea. ASP has large mobile harbour and crawler cranes already available along with self-propelled mobile transporters and other plant and equipment to handle offshore wind components.
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