UK: DECC’s Consent Step Forward for Offshore Wind Industry

July 6, 2012

Dudgeon Offshore Wind Limited (DOW), a subsidiary of Warwick Energy Limited, has today received all necessary consents required to build and operate the offshore works needed for the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm (Dudgeon) project.

The consents were issued by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1990, in consultation with the Marine Management Organisation who has issued the Marine Licence for the project.

The offshore works for Dudgeon cover the wind turbines and their foundations within the 35 square kilometre site, the offshore substation, interconnection cables and the main export cables to the landfall at Weybourne Hope, Norfolk, which together account for around 90% of the expected cost of the project.

The project team has previously issued Invitation to Tenders for the three main contract packages (for wind turbines, foundation and electrical works) and a short list of suppliers has been drawn up for each of these packages. ABB was announced as the preferred contractor for the electrical works in May 2012. It is hoped that preferred contractors for the two other main packages will be announced during 2012, ahead of contract signings in 2013.

A construction funding facility of up to £1.5bn is expected to be needed for the project, which will be sourced from the private sector over the next 12 months.

“This is a major step forward for the project, the offshore wind industry and for the UK economy,” commented Mark Petterson, Project Director. “We hope to receive the remaining consent, for an onshore substation, soon to allow construction work for this major piece of infrastructure to start next year.”

The Dudgeon site, where the wind turbines will be installed, is located 32km offshore, north of Cromer. Power generation is currently scheduled to commence by late 2015, subject to the remaining substation consent being received in the near future and the timely availability of construction finance.

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Offshore WIND staff, July 6, 2012; Image: warwickenergy