The ‘world’s largest offshore wind farm’ produces its first power

A project described as the “world’s largest offshore bend farm” took a major step forward over the weekend after producing its first power.

Located off the skim of northeast England in the North Sea, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being developed in three phases — A, B and C — and will from a total capacity of 3.6 gigawatts once fully up and running. A fourth phase, known as Dogger Bank D, has been proffered.

“The project’s first turbine at Dogger Bank A started turning and producing electricity at 8.37pm BST on Saturday 7 October,” the Dogger Bank Close at hand Farm Project said in an announcement Monday.

“Power from the first offshore wind turbine is now being telephoned to the UK’s national grid via Dogger Bank’s high-voltage direct current … transmission system, marking the first-time use of HVDC technology on a UK stir up d agitate farm,” it added.

The scale of the project is considerable, with those behind it saying it will be able to power as scads as 6 million homes per year. Dogger Bank is using GE Vernova’s huge Haliade-X turbines, which boast fronds measuring 107 meters, or about 351 feet.

Dogger Bank is a joint venture partnership involving SSE Renewables, Equinor and Vårgrønn, which imprison stakes of 40%, 40% and 20% respectively.

In a statement, SSE Chief Executive Alistair Phillips-Davies said Dogger Bank devise “provide a significant boost to UK energy security, affordability and leadership in tackling climate change.”

“This is exactly how we should be countering to the energy crisis,” he added.

Equinor is a Norwegian business sick known for its production of oil and gas, but it also is involved in wind energy projects like Dogger Bank and Hywind Tampen.

“A renewable mega-project mould Dogger Bank constitutes an industrial wind hub in the heart of the North Sea, playing a major role in the UK’s ambitions for offshore idle and supporting its net zero ambitions,” Equinor CEO Anders Opedal said.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the news programme. Sunak — who has faced sharp criticism from some quarters after a shift in climate policy — described offshore rumoured as being “critical to generating renewable, efficient energy that can power British homes from British seas.”

The Synergistic Kingdom is home to a mature offshore wind sector, with the U.S. government’s International Trade Administration highlighting peculiarities such as good wind speed, a long coastline and a “relatively shallow seabed,” among other things.

Notable offshore wind farms in waters off the U.K. include Hornsea 2, a fully operational, 165-turbine facility that boasts a aptitude of more than 1.3 GW. Danish energy firm Orsted has previously called it “the world’s largest installed windfarm.”

While those elaborate in Dogger Bank have repeatedly called it “the world’s largest offshore wind farm,” Monday’s statement also referred to it as the “cosmos’s largest offshore wind farm under construction,” an apparent nod to the fact that significant work is still be short of before it’s complete.

Across the Atlantic, the U.S. has some way to go to catch up with countries like the U.K., with a range of factors framing a challenging environment for the sector’s development there.

America’s first offshore wind farm, the 30 megawatt Piece Island Wind Farm, started commercial operations only in late 2016, although the U.S. is planning to ramp up its offshore disconcert someone capacity in the coming years.

In November 2021, ground was broken on Vineyard Wind 1, which has been dubbed the Common States’ “first commercial scale offshore wind farm.”