World's biggest offshore wind farm set to go ahead

Construction of the world's biggest offshore wind farm is set to go ahead after energy firm SSE renewables reached financial close on the first phase of the scheme.

SSE and its joint venture partner Equinor are now proceeding with the first two phases of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm off the north east coast of England. Once all three phases are complete by March 2026, it will be the largest in the world.

Each phase has a capacity of 1,200MW and will generate around 6,000GWh annually. In total, Dogger Bank will produce enough electricity to supply 5% of the UK's demand. 

Total investment in the first two phases of the project will be around £6bn and has already secured the creation of 320 new skilled jobs for the North East of England associated with the development and operation of the wind farm, with more to come as construction ramps up.

SSE Renewables is currently also leading the construction of the Seagreen offshore wind farm (1,075MW, SSE Renewables share 49%, which will be Scotland's largest on completion, and the wholly-owned Viking wind farm (443 MW).

Alistair Phillips-Davies, SSE chief executive, said: "We are proud to be leading on the construction and development of Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which has been 10 years in the making. We are putting our money where our mouth is on delivering net zero and reinforcing the UK's position as a world leader. This investment will help drive a green recovery from coronavirus through the project's construction over the next five years, creating jobs and boosting the local economy.

"Achieving financial close for the first two phases of the world's largest wind farm is a huge accomplishment and, alongside reaching Seagreen 1 financial close earlier this year, represents significant progress towards achieving our goal of trebling our renewable output by 2030."

This article originally appeared on Construction Manager