Britain’s biggest wind farm delayed by shortage of ships

Dogger Bank is an area of sandbanks in the southern North Sea spanning UK, German, Danish and Dutch waters. Its relatively shallow waters, between 60 and 200 feet deep, make the site ideal for installing wind turbines.

SSE Renewables is developing the project in three phases, Dogger Bank A, B and C, located between 81 and 118 miles from the nearest English coastline. Dogger Bank A was due for completion between late 2023 and early 2024 and Dogger Bank B roughly a year later, with the whole development due to be finished in 2026.

Once complete they will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm with a generation capacity of 3.6 gigawatts, enough to power 6m homes. They will be operated by SSE’s partner, Equinor, with an expected life of 35 years.

Shortages of wind farm construction vessels is becoming a global problem. Danish energy firm Orsted’s surprise decision to cancel two offshore wind farms off New Jersey last November was based in large part on big delays securing the ship it needed to build the project, company officials said.

A recent report from Allianz Commercial said the global wind industry needed to spend $20bn on 200 new wind farm installation vessels. 

It said: “The increasing size of wind turbines is perhaps the most striking change the industry has seen in recent years.

“In the last 20 years they have almost quadrupled in height, from around 70m/230ft to around 260m/853ft – nearly three times taller than the Statue of Liberty.

“Rotor diameters of wind turbines have increased fivefold in the past 30 years. This increasing size of turbines has introduced corresponding exposures, with larger components, machinery and vessels required for their installation.

“A bigger fleet of specialist vessels will be required to support global deployment as most specialist vessels currently operate out of Europe. There is an urgent need to expand port facilities to accommodate the required increase in vessel numbers.”