DECC: Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm ‘Provisionally Affordable’

In order to ensure that the UK remains on track to meet its renewable energy obligation targets by 2020, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced that it has chosen sixteen renewable energy generation projects which are ‘provisionally affordable’ in the Final Investment Decision Enabling for Renewables (FIDeR) process.

The Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm is one of only four offshore wind farm projects to have reached this stage of the process, and it means that it could be supported through either investment contracts or the enduring Contracts for Difference (CfD) regime.

Commenting on the company’s success in reaching this stage of the FIDeR process, Mr Halfdan Brustad, Chairman of Dudgeon Offshore Wind Limited, said: “This is excellent news, and an important step towards an internal final investment decision relating to the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm. This is currently scheduled for mid 2014.”

“Assuming we are successful in the final selection of FIDeR projects, which is likely to take place in March 2014, a contract and a known Strike Price will help provide us, as a UK energy generator, with a sustainable and long-term basis for the significant investment needed to construct the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm. We will ensure that the project benefits the UK as much as possible.”

The Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, which will be located 20 miles off the coast of Cromer in North Norfolk, is expected to have an installed capacity of around 400MW. This equates to enough energy to power up to approximately 410,000 homes and reduces emissions of carbon dioxide by up to 19 million tonnes over its 25 year lifetime, providing 0.5 per cent of the UK’s overall annual electricity needs.

Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm is owned by the two Norwegian companies, Statoil [70%] and Statkraft [30%], with Statoil as the manager for both the construction and the operational phase. Most recently the two companies have worked together to develop and operate the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm, the 88 turbine power plant [317MW] which is located 9-17 miles off the coast of Sheringham.

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Press release, December 23, 2013; Image: Statoil