Dogger Bank Wind Farm Picks Seajacks Vessel for Offshore Substation Commissioning

Seajacks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eneti, has signed three contracts with Dogger Bank Wind Farm for the charter of one of its NG2500X class vessels to support offshore substation platform hook-up and commissioning on all three 1.2 GW phases of the offshore wind project.

The first contract will commence in the second quarter of 2023. After that, the vessel will return to the wind farm in both 2024 and 2025.

Before the work starts, Seajacks will upgrade the vessel to boost the onboard accommodation capacity to a total of 140 persons.

“This new investment in the vessel will maximise local and UK content, because we will undertake the upgrade works at PD Ports Teesport UK facility. The project will also be managed by the onshore teams who work out of our Great Yarmouth headquarters”, said Blair Ainslie, Seajacks CEO.

The 3.6 GW offshore wind farm will use what the developers say is the world’s first unmanned High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) offshore substation, which slashes topside weight by 70 per cent.

The substations will be delivered by Aibel, which is working together with Hitachi ABB Power Grids to deliver all the offshore grid connections for Dogger Bank Wind Farm.

The company will deliver the Dogger Bank A substation in Q2 of 2023, Dogger Bank B is scheduled for Q2 of 2024, and the Dogger Bank C offshore platform is expected to be delivered in Q2 2025.

In 2020, Saipem signed a deal with the Dogger Bank Wind Farm joint venture for the transportation and installation of the two offshore HVDC offshore substations for Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B, while Heerema Marine Contractors was awarded the same work on the Dogger Bank C offshore substation earlier this year.

Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being built in three 1.2 GW phases some 130 kilometres off the North East coast of England. The project is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (40 per cent), Equinor (40 per cent) and Eni Plenitude (20 per cent).  

It will be the first HVDC-connected wind farm in the UK, paving the way for other UK wind farms and suppliers to build on our experience transmitting renewable energy safely and efficiently across long distances while minimising potential losses, according to SSE Renewables.

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