Status Under construction Type Offshore Units operational 67 | Commission date 2017 (2017) Distance from shore 32 km (20 mi) | |
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Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm being developed 32 km north of Cromer off the coast of Norfolk, in the North Sea, England. It is owned by Dudgeon Offshore Wind Limited (DOW), a subsidiary of Statoil, Masdar and Statkraft. The site is a relatively flat area of seabed between the Cromer Knoll and Inner Cromer Knoll sandbanks and is one of the furthest offshore sites currently being developed around the UK.
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The project includes constructing the wind turbines and their foundations, building an offshore substation and an onshore substation at Necton, installing power cables both undersea and onshore, as well as connection to the UK National Grid. This work is estimated to take about two years and cost in the region of £1.5bn. The wind farm should be fully operational by the end of 2017.
Planning
The project was originally developed by Warwick Energy Limited, who set up a subsidiary called Dudgeon Offshore Wind Limited. The wind farm planning application was filed in April 2009. The application was for between 56 and 168 turbines depending on final chosen design with a nameplate capacity of 560 MW.
In July 2012 the government gave planning approval for Warwick Energy to construct a wind farm to the capacity of 560MW. In October 2012 Statoil and Statkraft acquired the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm project through the acquisition of all shares from Warwick Energy. A review of the project was undertaken after the project was acquired by Statoil and Statkraft, and in December 2013 it was announced that the capacity of the wind farm would be reduced from 560MW to 402MW.
In January 2014 it was announced that two contracts had been awarded to Siemens for the engineering, supply, assembly, commissioning and service of 67 6MW wind turbines for the project. Statoil and Statkraft made the final investment decision on 1 July 2014 and announced that they would proceed with the project.
In September 2014 it was announced that Masdar had purchased 35%, half of Statoil's shares, of Dudgeon Offshore Wind Limited. Statoil now holds a 35% share, Masdar a 35% share and Statkraft a 30% share in Dudgeon Offshore Wind Limited.
Construction
Work began onshore in Norfolk to install the underground cables and construct the substations on March 26, 2015. The turbine foundations were laid in 2016, with turbine installation occurring in 2017, the first coming on line in early February 2017.
Final commissioning is planned for the end of 2017.