PHOTOS: First Dogger Bank Offshore Substation Reaches Norway
Following a long journey from Thailand, an offshore substation built for the massive Dogger Bank offshore wind project in the United Kingdom arrived at Aibel's yard in Haugesund on Saturday, aboard BigLift Shipping's heavy transportation vessel BigLift Baffin.
The substation is the first of three platforms that Aibel will deliver to the world’s largest offshore wind farm, the 3.6 GW Dogger Bank, which is located in the North Sea, 130 kilometers off the Yorkshire coast.
The platforms will be outfitted with the latest generation HVDC converter equipment from Hitachi Energy and undergo final completion and commissioning at the yard in Haugesund.
“This is an important milestone in Aibel’s transition towards a renewable and low-carbon future. The platforms, which will be very visible in the cityscape in Haugesund, illustrate that the expertise in the Norwegian supplier industry is highly relevant in the green shift.
"The offshore wind project teams here in Haugesund, together with their Aibel colleagues in Asker, hold world-class expertise in this field, which has made Aibel a preferred supplier to the European offshore wind industry and a key player in the energy transition. Now we have a visible proof – and more are on their way,” says Aibel President and CEO, Mads Andersen.
Aibel’s first and latest offshore wind platform was the DolWin beta converter platform that left the yard in Haugesund in the summer of 2015.
The topside for the Dogger Bank A platform was constructed at Aibel’s yard in Thailand, where it set several records, including being the largest installation ever moved on Thai soil.
“It has really been a challenging time with the Covid-pandemic, delays in delivery of material, and finally the war in Ukraine, but the team has managed extremely well and built a topside of supreme quality. Now we must complete the job here in Haugesund and deliver on all parameters to our clients,” says project director for Dogger Bank project in Aibel, Per Tore Larsen.
The Dogger Bank A platform weighs 7,500 tonnes measuring 74 x 51 meters across and 40 meters high. The platform will receive electricity from 95 offshore wind turbines and convert it into 320 kilovolts of direct current, which will then be sent to shore. The generation capacity of Dogger Bank A is 1.2 GW. In total, Dogger Bank Offshore Wind Farm, being developed by SSE Renewables, Equinor, and Eni Plenitude, will be capable of powering six million British households.
During the stay in Haugesund, the transformers and other advanced converter equipment from Hitachi Energy will be installed as well as arrangements for the offshore lifting operation. Aibel expects to finish most of its work by mechanical completion by late 2022. Then only commissioning work remains until the expected sailaway to the Dogger Bank project in early spring 2023.