Axess Group to Certify Dogger Bank A Offshore Substation’s Lifting Equipment

Axess Group has secured an Enterprise of Competence service contract with Aibel for the lifting equipment on the Dogger Bank A offshore substation.

Under the contract, Axess will provide engineering review, inspection, testing and certification of the lifting appliances on the platform, to ensure statutory compliance and delivery of the asset to regional operational standards.

The offshore substation for the first of the three phases of the 3.6 GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm will be built at Aibel’s fabrication yard in Laem Chabang, Thailand.

In October 2019, Aibel signed a contract to deliver two converter platforms for the 1.2 GW Dogger Bank A and the 1.2 GW Dogger Bank B projects, with an option for a third platform for the 1.2 GW Dogger Bank C phase of the the project. The option for the third substation was exercised this February.

The Dogger Bank project is being headed from Aibel Haugesund, while construction of the two platform topsides is taking place at Aibel’s yard in Thailand. From there, the platforms will be transported to Haugesund, where they will be outfitted with ABB’s HVDC converter technology, including final completion and commissioning.

Located some 130 kilometres off the North East coast of England, Dogger Bank A and B is a joint venture between SSE Renewables, Equinor, and Eni, while Dogger Bank C is a 50:50 joint venture between SSE Renewables and Equinor.

Dogger Bank A and B will feature 190 GE Renewable Energy’s Haliade-X 13 MW turbines, scheduled to deliver the first electricity in 2023. On Dogger Bank C, the developers opted for the 14 MW version of GE’s Haliade-X model, with the third phase (and the entire wind farm) due to be put into operation in 2026.