Jan De Nul Group's newest jack-up installation vessel Voltaire recently installed her very first offshore wind turbine at Dogger Bank. Soon after installing the first of 277 wind turbines, this first turbine has produced first power, according to the company's release.
The installation and first power of the first GE Haliade-X turbine at Dogger Bank A was confirmed today. The precision exercise to install the turbine was undertaken by engineers and technicians using Jan De Nul Group’s ultra-low emission vessel Voltaire, which has a crane lifting capacity of 3,200 tonnes.
The turbine blades tips reach 260 meters above sea level; the same height as New York’s iconic Rockefeller Centre. Each blade is 107 meters long.
The first turbines have been installed around 130 km from the Yorkshire coast, and connected via inter-array cables to the UK’s first unmanned HVDC offshore substation, which was set in place earlier in 2023.
Dogger Bank will be the first High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) connected wind farm in the UK due to its distance from shore, introducing new transmission systems to the UK and paving the way for other large offshore wind farms.
Dogger Bank A, B and C will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm.
This first phase of the joint venture project between SSE Renewables, Equinor and Vårgrønn is scheduled to be fully operational in summer 2024. When complete, all three phases – Dogger Bank A, B and C will power the equivalent of 6 million UK households or about 5% of the UK’s electricity demand.