The Dogger Bank Creyke Beck wind farm will include up to 400 wind turbines that are expected to generate up to 2.4GW, or 2.5% of UK electricity demand. The development will be second only, in terms of UK power output, to the 3.9GW Drax coal-fired station in North Yorkshire.
The turbines will be erected 130km off the Yorkshire coast.
The project is being taken forward by Forewind – a consortium comprising SSE, RWE, Statkraft and Statoil. The four companies joined forces to bid for the Dogger Bank zone development agreement as part of the Crown Estate’s third licence round for UK offshore wind farms. They have already spent more than £60m on surveys.
For the Dogger Bank Creyke Beck development, underground cabling will be laid from the beach at Ulrome, to converter stations at Creyke Beck near Cottingham (between Hull and Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire) and a further underground connection to a nearby National Grid sub-station.
Crown Estate head of offshore wind Huub den Rooijen said: “Today’s announcement for Dogger Bank Creyke Beck is the largest planning consent for an offshore wind development globally. The sheer scale of this project creates the potential for it to be built at significantly lower costs, presenting a powerful opportunity for economic growth and jobs. We look forward to working with the Forewind consortium and the wider offshore wind industry to ensure the UK remains the most attractive country to invest into the long term.”
As part of the consent process a final six-week judicial review period is now underway.
A decision on Forewind’s second development consent order application, for Dogger Bank Teesside A&B, in anticipated around August this year.
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