World’s Biggest Wind Farm to Be Built Offshore U.K.

By Lars Paulsson (Bloomberg) —

The world’s biggest offshore wind park is a step closer to construction.

The British utility SSE Plc and Norwegian energy major Equinor ASA reached financial close on the project off the east coast of England. It will have skyscraper-sized turbines and produce enough electricity to supply 5% of the U.K.’s demand, or the equivalent of six million homes. The decision comes just days after the European Union announced a $940 billion push into wind at sea to meet stricter pollution targets as well as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s green plan to support renewable energy sources.

Total investment in the first two phases of the project will be around 6 billion pounds ($8 billion) and has already created hundreds of U.K. jobs, SSE said in a statement. Each phase has a capacity of 1,200MW and will generate around 6,000 gigawatt-hours.

“We are putting our money where our mouth is on delivering net zero and reinforcing the U.K.’s position as a world leader,” Alistair Philips-Davies, SSE’s chief executive officer, said in the statement.

Offshore wind is central to Johnson’s plan, with the government aiming to quadruple capacity to 40 gigawatts by 2030.

Orsted A/S, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Danske Commodities A/S signed power-purchase agreements for the output from the first two phases of Dogger Bank.

The project in September ordered 190 Haliade-X 13-megawatt turbines from General Electric Co. that are 248 meters (853 feet) tall.

The first two phases will be built simultaneously, Equinor said. The third, Dogger Bank C, is being developed on a different timescale with financial close to follow at a later stage. Once all three phases are complete in March 2026 it will be the largest offshore wind park in the world.

–With assistance from Lars Erik Taraldsen.

© 2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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